Revelation 6:1-17 Opening The Seven Seals. 3 Plague Sequences: 7 seals, 7 trumpets 7 bowls ( Revelation 6; Revelation 8-9; Revelation 16)... Between Revelation

Revelation 6:1-17 Opening The Seven Seals

3 Plague Sequences: 7 seals, 7 trumpets 7 bowls ( Revelation 6; Revelation 8-9; Revelation 16)... Between Revelation 4-5:the Kingdom of God in Heaven God and the Lamb Worshipped As Kings in Heaven... And Revelation 21-22: the New Jerusalem as Kingdom of God in Transformed & Purified Heaven and Earth:

Interpretation of the Plague Cycles: Example of the Seven Seals

The Seven Seals and Their Interpretation 1 Rider on White Horse 2 Rider on Red Horse 3 Rider on Black Horse 4 Rider on Pale Horse = Death 5 Souls under the Altar 6 Earthquake, stars fall, cosmic chaos, wrath of Lamb 7 Silence; 7 trumpets

Rev 6:1-2: The First Horseman 1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, as with a voice of thunder, "Come!" 2 And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer The Cloisters Apocalypse Cloisters Museum New York 1320-1330

Rev 6:3-4 The Second Horseman 3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, Come! 4 And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword. Cloisters Apocalypse Cloisters Museum New York 1320-1330

Rev 6:5-6 The Third Horseman 5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a balance in his hand; 6 and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm oil and wine!" Cloisters Apocalypse Cloisters Museum New York 1320-1330

Rev 6:7-8: The Fourth Horseman 7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, Come! 8 I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its riders name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth. Cloisters Apocalypse Cloisters Museum New York 1320-1330

The Fifth Seal: the Souls under the Altar Revelation 6:9-11 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; 10they cried out with a loud voice, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth? 11They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow-servants* and of their brothers and sisters,* who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed. From the Angers Tapestry France, ca. 1373 Video of Angers Tapestrry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6hQkh5wixA

Apocalypse Tapestry, Angers, France By Nicolas Bataille, Paris, 1373, for Prince Louis Van der Meer, Apocalypse, 181

Reims Cathedral Doorway Souls under the Altar 5th Seal Rev 6:9-11 The 4 Horsemen Seals 1-4: Rev 6:1-8

The Sixth Seal Revelation 6:12-17 (compare tradition of Messianic woes, e.g. Mark 13) 12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; 14 the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath f the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?

Drer: Seals 5 & 6 Seal 6: Falling Stars Hiding in Mountains Seal 5: Souls Under The Altar

The Seventh Seal: Revelation 8:1-6 1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. 6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them. Matthias Gerung, 1530-32 Ottheinrich-Bibel, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 8010

Interpretations of the 7 Seals Different Strategies for Interpretation Interpretation in Various Media: In Art In Music In Poetry In Fiction In Academic Writings

Different STRATEGIES for INTERPRETING the PLAGUE SEQUENCES STRATEGY 1: Futurist : Seals as specific predictions of future, end-time events, common in American popular culture (e.g. The Left Behind series) STRATEGY 2: Church Historical: each of 7 seals taken to symbolize a period in the History of the Church STRATEGY 3: Using the Imagery of the Text to Illuminate Events in the Interpreters own Time (e.g. Coleridge: time of the French Revolution; cf. William Miller The Last Plagues on Revelation 16) STRATEGY 4: Contemporary historical-criticism: focuses especially on Background of the plague sequences (e.g. Bauckham, Rossing) STRATEGY 5 Theological interpretations: explore what general points of Christian teaching) are communicated in the plague sequences STRATEGY 6: Poetic, artistic, and musical interpretations: imaginative response to the texts images that expresses how the text relates to the life of the individual in the present time

NOTE These Six Strategies of Interpretation are not mutually exclusive; they often overlap, for example: Some interpretations emphasize both present and future meaning of the book. Imaginative responses to Revelations images in music or poetry often reflect religious convictions and theological ideas.

STRATEGY 1: Futurist : Seals as specific predictions of future, end-time events, common in American popular culture (e.g. The Left Behind series) For Example: Book 2 of the Left Behind Series contains a fictionalization of the future coming of the Four Horsemen

Strategy #1 Left Behind, Book 3: Nicolae Seal #6 - The Wrath of the Lamb earthquake Rev 6:12: When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood. Rayford could not keep from staring at the devastation below. Fires had broken out all over the place. They illuminated car crashes, flattened buildings, the earth roiling and rolling like an angry sea. What appeared a huge ball of a gasoline fire caught his eye. There, hanging in the sky so close it seemed he could touch it, was the moon. The bloodred moon. (Nicolae, p. 405)

INTERPRETIVE STRATEGY #2: Church Historical Francis Lambert (1486-1530), a Protestant Reformer (Kovacs-Rowland, 82-83) First seal: outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost and apostolic mission through Roman world. Second seal: Roman emperors persecuted Christians; few heresies in the church Third seal: peace given to church by Constantine followed by lots of heresies Fourth seal: After the suppression of these errors, Satan corrupted the papacy with worldly ambition, by spreading the hypocritical monastic lie, as well as by persecuting the Church outwardly through the armies of Islam. Fifth seal: the persecution of the saints in all ages, though their affliction by the papacy has been especially acute since the seventh or eighth century Sixth seal: revival of the gospel (Lambert thought this had been going on for the last one hundred years but that the sixth age would conclude with a fearful persecution, when the beast of Rev 13:1 would rage for forty-two months.) Seventh seal: millennium on earth, within history

INTERPRETIVE STRATEGY #3: Using the Imagery of Text to Illuminate Events in the Interpreters own Time Example: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Religious Musings (1796), ll. 320-334 NOTE how Coleridge interprets the images of Seals 5 and 6 and also the whore of Revelation 17 as representing human injustice at time of French Revolution, i.e. in the present time Seal 5Seal 6

STRATEGY #3: Imagery of the Text refers to Events in the Interpreters own Time Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Religious Musings(1796), lines 320-334 Rest awhile Children of Wretchedness ! More groans must rise, More blood must stream, or ere your wrongs be full. Yet is the day of Retribution nigh : The Lamb of God hath opened the fifth seal: [Rev 6:9-11] And upward rush on swiftest wing of fire The innumerable multitude of wrongs By man on man inflicted! Rest awhile, Children of Wretchedness ! The hour is nigh And lo ! the Great, the Rich, the Mighty Men, The Kings and the Chief Captains of the World, [Rev 6:15] With all that fixed on high like stars of Heaven [Rev 6:13] Shot baleful influence, shall be cast to earth, Vile and down-trodden, as the untimely fruit Shook from the fig-tree by a sudden storm.

Coleridge, Religious Musings #2 Even now the storm begins The abhorred Form, Whose scarlet robe was stiff with earthly pomp.[Rev 17] Who drank iniquity in cups of gold, Whose names were many and all blasphemous, Hath met the horrible judgement! Whence that cry? The mighty army of foul Spirits shrieked Disinherited of earth! For she hath fallen On whose black front was written Mystery; She that reeled heavily, whose wine was blood; She that worked whoredom with the Demon power... (Religious Musings 65-6) Quoted in Kovacs-Rowland, p. 87

James Gillray, Presages of the Millennium: The Destruction of the Faithful Kovacs-Rowland 87 The apocalyptic character of Coleridges times is also expressed by the cartoonist James Gillray, who portrayed Death on a white horse as William Pitt (Presages of the Millennium). [William Pitt was Prime Minister of England at the time]. James Gillray, Presages of the Millennium 4 June 1795 Coloured etching, engraving and aquatint, 325 x 375 mm Copyright the Trustees of The British Museum

Explanation of Gillray Cartoon Presages of the Millennium 1795: depicts William Pitt, Prime Minister of England as Fourth Horseman = Death Context: after the French Revolution. Gillray, along with many others, thought that William Pitt was bringing England into disaster by stirring up war with France. This put economic pressure on England and brought the risk of invasion and chaos. Gillray opposed Pitts rabid Franco-phobia and endangering of England.

Details on Interpretation of Gillray, Presages of the Millennium On the 1st of February 1793 France, after much provocation by England (under Pitts aegis), declared war; a war whose prosecution was continuing at this time and which had expanded to involve the larger part of Europe. Pitts highly belligerent foreign policy: actively seeking alliances and fomenting anti-French feelings at home and abroad, provides the basis for Gillrays attack. Pitt is not merely the arbiter of the depredation of France, but through his incarnation as the elemental Death, of the rest of Europe and most especially of England as well. Englands integrity was, at this time, placed under pressure by the economic strain of war, the risk of invasion, the risk of insurrection and the morally and legally dubious basis on which the war was begun and continued. For all these reasons Pitts aggressive policy found detractors, though it is important to make the distinction between feeling sympathy for France and being concerned for the preservation of the well being of England. The sense of Gillrays print is most definitely the latter the fear for England derived from beyond the frame. Pitt trounces his domestic opponents and, with perhaps more than a touch of hubris, careers into the unknown beyond these shores, where the suggestion is that his luck could run out and his rabid Franco-phobia would lead England into an abyss he lacked the ability to avoid. By committing so avowedly to war, Pitt had surrendered manoeuvrability the action of a madman? This seems to be Gillrays thrust. On the 1st of February 1793 France, after much provocation by England (under Pitts aegis), declared war; a war whose prosecution was continuing at this time and which had expanded to involve the larger part of Europe. Pitts highly belligerent foreign policy: actively seeking alliances and fomenting anti-French feelings at home and abroad, provides the basis for Gillrays attack.... through Pitts incarnation as the elemental Death . Englands integrity was, at this time, placed under pressure by the economic strain of war, the risk of invasion, the risk of insurrection and the morally and legally dubious basis on which the war was begun and continued. For all these reasons Pitts aggressive policy found detractors, though it is important to make the distinction between feeling sympathy for France and being concerned for the preservation of the well being of England. The sense of Gillrays print is most definitely the latter the fear for England derived from beyond the frame. Pitt trounces his domestic opponents and, with perhaps more than a touch of hubris, careers into the unknown beyond these shores, where the suggestion is that his luck could run out and his rabid Franco-phobia would lead England into an abyss he lacked the ability to avoid. By committing so avowedly to war, Pitt had surrendered manoeuvrability the action of a madman? This seems to be Gillrays thrust. http://www.moonshadow.co.uk/?p=126http://www.moonshadow.co.uk/?p=126 consulted 4/4/2010

STRATEGY #4: Contemporary Historical Criticism e.g. Richard Bauckham Barbara Rossing) Explores Background of Imagery in Old Testament and Jewish Apocalypses Explores Context: What role do the plague sequences play in the Book of Revelation as a whole? Historical Criticism includes Theological Interpretation: What general ideas about God and humanity does the text convey?

Historical Criticism on the Plague Sequences #1 General Background in Apocalyptic Tradition of the Messianic Woes as Birthpains of the New Age Daniel 12:1-3: predicts woes before the general resurrection of the dead At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth* shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky,* and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. *Compare Jewish Apocalypses: 2 Esdras 5:1-12; Apocalypse of Baruch 25-27 This Jewish apocalpytic tradition is also reflected in Mark 13 = the little apocalypse: Mark 13:7-8: When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

Historical Criticism #2: Old Testament Background of Horsemen Imagery Zechariah 1:7-11: Four Horses Patrol the Earth 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo; and Zechariah said, 8 In the night I saw a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 Then I said, What are these, my lord? The angel who talked with me said to me, I will show you what they are. 10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, They are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth. 11 Then they spoke to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, We have patrolled the earth, and lo, the whole earth remains at peace. Date: February 15, 519 BCE, after the Babylonian Exile Context: the prophet conveys hope for the rebuilding of Jerusalem: the horsemen find peace on earth = a condition for the rebuilding

Old Testament Background (#2) Zechariah 6:1-8 Eighth Vision: Four Chariots 6 And again I looked up and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountainsmountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot black horses, 3the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled grey horses. 4 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, What are these, my lord? 5 The angel answered me, These are the four winds of heaven [cf. Rev 7:1] going out, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The chariot with the black horses goes towards the north country, the white ones go towards the west country, and the dappled ones go towards the south country. 7 When the steeds came out, they were impatient to get off and patrol the earth. And he said, Go, patrol the earth. So they patrolled the earth. 8 Then he cried out to me, Lo, those who go towards the north country have set my spirit at rest in the north country. Speaks of Israels enjoying peace from her enemies after the Babylonian Exile; Context: command to rebuild of the temple in Jerusalem & anoint a new king

Historical Criticism #3:The Plagues in Context The Apocalypse brings awareness of the extent and seriousness of Evil and Injustice on Earth The 3 Plague Sequences are framed by the revelation of Gods glory in heaven (Rev 4-5) where it is recognized by heavenly beings... And by the final establishment of glory of God in the New Jerusalem, where God is worshipped also by human beings (Rev 21-22) At the present time, Gods kingdom (rule) is not recognized by most people on earth: Satan and his forces are hard at work on the earth. The 3 Plague Sequences are part of the final battle of God and those who ally themselves with him (Christ, Michael, angels, Christians) against the forces of evil

STRATEGY #5: Theological Interpretation Example: Christopher Rowland. Plague Sequences as Judgement and Unmasking of Human Injustice If Revelation seems to highlight divine judgement rather than mercy, that is a message which an idolatrous generation needs to hear....We live as part of an order in which injustice has distorted the way in which society and the whole created order functions. The world is out of joint, and that was most clearly demonstrated in the destruction of the Messiah by the representatives of the present scheme of things. Revelation. (Epworth Commentaries; London 1993), 82. The reality which the Apocalypse points us to is that in a disordered world death and destruction are the lot of millions, and the putting right of wrongs demands a seismic shift of cosmic proportions which will happen, even if human kind does not repent. (pp. 83-84)

Strategy #5 Theological Interpretation Bauckham 40-47 on the 3 Plague Cycles Focuses on: Divine Holiness The holiness and righteousness of God requires the condemnation of unrighteousness on earth and the destruction of powers that are evil that contest Gods rule on earth Revelation as the unfolding of first three petitions of Lords Prayer Matt 6.9-10: Your name be hallowed, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Evidence for this interpretation of the plagues: Rev 15:8 no one could enter the temple until the 7 plagues were ended. This echoes Isa 6.3 holy holy holy is the Lord God. (cf. Rev 4:6) Rev 4-5 as foundational for rest of Revelation. Judgments of all plague visions: each in some way issues from the throne room

Strategy #5 Theological Interpretation: Richard Bauckham (p. 2) The highly schematized portrayal of judgments in the plague visions depicts their theological significance and cannot be meant as a literal prediction of events (p. 41) Gods judgments are just 16.7; 19.2; 15.3: they correspond to the moral truth of things; 15.4: he alone is holy i.e. he alone has righteousness as his very nature (p. 43) The way John portrays the judgments in that God acts only through intermediaries -- is as far as possible from the image of a human despot wielding arbitrary power (p. 43) Much of modern criticism (e.g. feminist critique) of images such as the throne seems unable to understand real transcendence (p. 45)

Strategy #5 Theological Interpretation Barbara Rossing Thesis: the Exodus story provides a clue to understand the 7 seals and other plague visions God hears the peoples cries and threatens new plagues against Romes oppression as part of overall goal of liberation from injustice The violence of these visions concerns release and liberation, not vengeance or cruelty Plague visions are not a prediction of what is to come but a frightening threat Opposes dispensationists (e.g. Left Behind) for whom the plague visions are a favorite part for their view that Rev 6-19 furnishes detailed playbook for 70th week of Daniel 9 Gods people are not called to undertake any violent action; as in the Exodus, salvation comes only through Gods action and the blood of the Lamb

Rossing: Theological Interpretation of the Plagues (p. 2) Even most deadly visions serve the overall goal of conversion and repentance. Evidence: Rev 9.20-21 people chided for lack of repentance. Compare Exodus 9:1-3: God over and over tries to get Pharaoh to let his people go God wants to rein in the Roman Empires rush to destroy the world In the tradition of the Exodus story and the Exodus plagues, Revelation makes clear that God sympathizes, grieves, and laments over the worlds pain, even while threatening plagues to bring about the worlds liberation from injustice (p. 129) Lawsuit image: victims of injustice deserve to know that they will receive answers

Strategy #5 Theological Interpretation: Joseph Mangina, Brazos Commentary on Revelation, April, 2010. p. 96 The God of the Apocalypse may easily appear as the one who hates everything he has made A superficial reading of the book may simply confirm our worst personal and collective nightmares concerning God. The task of interpretation, of course, means going beyond superficial readings to engage the work at a deeper level. There are in fact very good reasons underlying Johns use of shocking, violent, catastrophic language. Revelation is not written from the perspective of those in power, but from the perspective of an unimportant community of nobodies at the margins of Roman society. How could they picture the kingdoms coming other than as a radical upheaval of existing conditions? John is more concerned with what God is doing for the faithful than with what he is doing to outsiders, and we should avoid inferring that because the former are saved, the latter must be lost. Finally, the violent language and imagery of Revelation are used to portray, in terms no one could mistake, the coming of the justice of God, with all that implies concerning his setting right of every historical evil.

Interpretations in Music and Art Questions for Reflection: What theological or existential interpretations of the plagues do the various art works and musical renditions convey, and how? Do you think they teach us anything about the meaning of Revelation?

The Four Horsemen: Metallica #1 By the last breath of the fourth winds blow [Rev 7:1] Better raise your ears The sound of hooves knocks at your door [6:1-8] Lock up your wife and children now Its time to wield the blade For now you have got some company

The Four Horsemen Metallica Refrain The Horsemen are drawing nearer On leather steeds they ride They have come to take your life On through the dead of night With the four Horsemen ride or choose your fate and die Solos Beatus

Interpretation in Art: Henri Rousseau (1944-1910) War (2. Horseman) Muse d'Orsay, Paris

Metallica #2 You have been dying since the day You were born You know it has all been planned The quartet of deliverance rides A sinner once a sinner twice No need for confession now Cause now you have got the fight of your life Albrecht Drer 1497-98

Refrain The Horsemen are drawing nearer On leather steeds they ride They come to take your life On through the dead of night With the four Horsemen ride or choose your fate and die Solos Beatus

Metallica, Horsemen #3 Time has taken its toll on you The lines that crack your face Famine [Rev 6:5-8] Your body it has torn through Withered in every place Pestilence [6:7] For what you have had to endure And what you have put others through Death [6:8] Deliverance for you for sure There is nothing you can do

The Fourth Horseman Artistic Interpretations Death: Fourth Horseman York Minster England Stained-glass Window How do Artists and Musicians Bring out the Power of the Imagery? What is the theological or religious value of these Interpretations?

Revelation 6:7-8: the Fourth Rider 7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, Come! 8 I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its riders name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth.

Roger Brown (b. 1941) The Final Arbiter, 1984. Oil on canvas, 72x108 in. Stefan T. Edlis, Chicago. Courstesy Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York. Nancy Grubb. Revelations. Art of the Apocalypse. New York: Abbeville, 1997. p. 47.

William Blake: Death on a Pale Horse (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)

Turner: Death on a Pale Horse Tate Gallery, London Grubb, Revelations, p. 47. Kovacs-Rowland p. 38: J. M. W. Turners (1775-1851) Death on a Pale Horse (ca.1825) manages to conjure up a scene of desolation following a cataclysm.

Benjamin West (1738-1820) Death on a Pale Horse, 1817. Oil, 14ft 8 in x 25 ft 1 in Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Nancy Grubb. Revelations. Art of the Apocalypse. New York: Abbeville, 1997. p. 45

Howard Finster (b. 1916) Find the Four Horses of the Revelation, 1975 Enamel on wood, 22 x 33in. Collection of T. Marshall Hahn, Jr. Nancy Grubb. Revelations. Art of the Apocalypse. New York: Abbeville, 1997. p. 39

Finster: Discussion Question Question: What interpretation of the 4 Horsemen does Finsters painting imply?

Howard Finster Find the Four Horsemen

Metallica #4 So gather round young warriors now and saddle up your steeds Killing scores with demon swords Now is the death of doers of wrong Swing the judgment hammer down Safely inside armor blood guts and sweat The Horsemen are drawing nearer On leather steeds they ride They have come to take your life On through the dead of night With the four Horsemen ride or choose your fate and die Question: How does this song interpret Revelation 6? Does it convey to you anything about the meaning of Revelation?

The Four Horsemen : Beatus MS

The Sixth Seal Revelation 6:12-17 (compare tradition of Messianic woes, e.g. Mark 13) 12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; 14 the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?

And the moon became as blood Rev 6:12 Howard Finster (b. 1916) 1976 Smithsonian American Art Museum

Interpretation in Music: the 6th Seal Falling Stars: in African American Spirituals My Lord What a Mornin #1 My Lord what a mournin', My Lord what a mournin', My Lord what a mournin' When de stars begin to fall, when de stars begin to fall [Rev 6:13; 8:10] My Lord what a mournin', My Lord what a mournin', My Lord what a mournin' When de stars begin to fall, when de stars begin to fall Done quit all my worlly ways, done quit all my worly ways, done quite all my worlly ways Jine dat hebbenly ban [cf. Rev 4-5; Rev 7; 14] Harry Thacker Burleigh Burleigh, arranger, 1924. Witness. Volume I, Spirituals and gospels [sound recording]. Brunelle, Philip, 1943- WORDS from: Moses Hogan, ed. The Oxford Book of Spirituals. Oxford: Oxford, 2002. 19-24. REV 6:13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale;

Falling Stars... Fleeing Mountains Anon. The Opening of the Sixth Seal, Morgan Beatus Spanish, c. 950. Manuscript on parchment, 15 x 11 in. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Nancy Grubb. Revelations. Art of the Apocalypse. New York: Abbeville, 1997. p. 48 Oh! My Lord, what a mournin My Lord, what a mournin, oh My Lord what a mournin', When de stars begin to fall, when de stars begin to fall

My Lord What a Mournin #3 Done quit all my worlly ways, done quit all my worly ways, done quite all my worlly ways Jine dat hebbenly ban [cf. Rev 4-5; Rev 7; 14] Oh! My Lord, what a mournin My Lord, what a mournin, oh My Lord what a mournin', When de stars begin to fall, when de stars begin to fall Discussion Questions: 1. How does this Song interpret the 6th Seal? 2. How does the text use Context (Rev 7) to interpret the 6th seal? NOTE: There is a variant form of this song in which first line reads: My Lord what a Morning! Does this make a difference to either the tone or the content of this spiritual?

Sixth Seal: Rocks and the Mountains 6: 14... and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it? Compare Rev 8:8-9: The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Compare Rev 16:17, 20: The seventh angel poured his bowl into the air And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.

Documents

Revelation 6:1-17 Opening The Seven Seals. 3 Plague Sequences: 7 seals, 7 trumpets 7 bowls ( Revelation 6; Revelation 8-9; Revelation 16)... Between Revelation