onwards. The Lamb now begins to open the seals. The inevitability of history is revealed, for all is seen to be in God's hands. He is in control of history. But this does not mean He causes it to be. It is man who chooses the way that he takes, with its inevitable results, but God in the end is the overruling force, using it for His greater purposes. The seals will follow the pattern laid down by our Lord. False Messiahs and false prophets, international wars, famine, pestilence, death, intense persecution of God's people, earthquakes, signs in the heavens, all leading up to the Coming of Christ, and all to be experienced in these days in which his readers and we live.
The seals are opened one by one, but they are opened immediately. The events which they describe are parallel not consecutive. The false Messiahs, the great wars, the famines and pestilences, and massive slaughter (seals 1-4), together with the persecution of God's people (seal 5) all occur contemporaneously. They present the march of world history. This has been especially the history of the world of the Near and Middle East. The sixth seal is also contemporaneous, showing a world in turmoil (see commentary), although in this case taking us on to the final judgment. In one sense it is the reply to the prayers of the fifth seal. Thus the seventh seal, which results in the blowing of the seven trumpets is also contemporaneous. These describe God's particular judgments among the world's self-inflicted misery.