<p>6:1 <i>And I looked when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder: Come- </i>The living creatures as they are in Heaven represent God in manifestation through His Angels, who represent His people on earth. The voice of thunder is as it were God's voice. The invitation &quot;Come&quot; is later repeated by John at the end of Revelation as an invitation to come and inherit the Kingdom. The Gospel is an invitation into the things of God, to see things from His Heavenly perspective, from the standpoint of His Kingdom. The repeated invitations here to &quot;Come&quot; are rendered in some manuscripts as &quot;Come and see&quot;. In John's language, this has meant coming and seeing the things of the risen Lord (Jn. 20:1). It is His death and resurrection which has opened the things of Heaven.</p><p><b>General Observations</b><br />The seven seals, seven trumpets and seven vials, subdivided as they are in places into subdivisions, all appear to be parallel. But they aren&rsquo;t necessarily describing the same events. I suggest the seals refer to the judgments to come upon God&rsquo;s people and land, Israel / the land promised to Abraham; and trumpets and vials describe God&rsquo;s commensurate judgment of the beast system which inflicts these judgments. The similarities are because as they have judged, so they will be judged. The cup they give others to drink must be drunk by themselves. And it could be argued that their judgment will be even more severe and complete. Thus in the seals, a fourth part of things are affected; in the trumpets, a third part; whilst the vials speak of total destruction. As with the judgments on Egypt, which form the basis for the seven vials, the people of God may initially be affected by the outpouring of those judgments, but those who are sealed are saved from them.</p><p>The vials are really bowls or cups poured out on the land. The same word is used in one of the Aramaic targums on Is. 51:17,22,23 concerning how the &ldquo;cup&rdquo; of judgment drunk by Jerusalem will be given to her judges, the beast system of latter day Babylon. This explains why the vials / bowls / cups are based around the plagues on Egypt, representing the abusers of Israel:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=255 valign=top>            <p><b>Vials in Revelation</b></p>            </td>            <td width=247 valign=top>            <p><b>Israel&rsquo;s experience and plagues on Egypt, Exodus</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=255 valign=top>            <p>Boils 16:3,4</p>            </td>            <td width=247 valign=top>            <p>9:8-12</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=255 valign=top>            <p>2 and 3. Water to blood, water sources   contaminated, 16:6</p>            </td>            <td width=247 valign=top>            <p>Water to blood 7:14-21</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=255 valign=top>            <p>4.Scorching heat from the sun, 16:8,9</p>            </td>            <td width=247 valign=top>            <p>This will specifically not come upon God&rsquo;s people   (Is. 49:10; Ps. 121:5,6; Rev. 7:16), just as the later plagues did not harm   the Israelites in Egypt.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=255 valign=top>            <p>5.Darkness 16:10,11</p>            </td>            <td width=247 valign=top>            <p>10:21-23</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=255 valign=top>            <p>6.Gathering to Armageddon- perhaps Jerusalem. The   word could mean &lsquo;The desirable city&rsquo;, &lsquo;His fruitful mountain&rsquo;, &lsquo;the mount of   assembly&rsquo;. It may refer to the Mount Megiddo.</p>            </td>            <td width=247 valign=top>            <p>Mount Megiddo was where repentant Israel won a   great victory against the Canaanites, the tribes within the land (Jud. 5:19).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=255 valign=top>            <p>7.Lightning, plague</p>            </td>            <td width=247 valign=top>            <p>As on Egypt. The reference is also to Ez. 13:8-16   which describes such things coming on Jerusalem- perhaps the idea is that   those who now dominate Jerusalem will be punished in this way.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>The first four seals, the four coloured horsemen, are based upon the horsemen of judgment in Zechariah 1, which vision is repeated in Zechariah 6 but with the difference that the four horsemen go out to judge the nations who have performed these judgments upon Israel, e.g. &ldquo;the north country&rdquo;. These four horsemen inflict punishments and judgments which are full of Old Testament allusions to prophecies concerning how God would judge His people, His land and specifically Jerusalem for their impenitence. Ezekiel 5-7 is full of the same language about what shall come upon Jerusalem, e.g. famine is described in the same language as in Revelation 6 (Ez. 4:16). The four judgments of Rev. 6:8 are those of Ez. 14:21- to come upon Jerusalem. The language of Jeremiah&rsquo;s prophecies against Judah are particularly alluded in these first four seals (Jer. 6:22-26; 14:11,12; 15:1,2; 16:4,5; 18:11-21; 21:8-10; 38:2; 44:11-14). And the language of the fifth seal is alluding to the Lord&rsquo;s word of judgment upon Jerusalem in Mt. 23:35. Most significantly, the language of the four horsemen is taken directly from the curses upon Israel for disobedience to the covenant in Dt. 32:23-35.</p><p>Clearly enough, beyond any question to the serious Bible student, the focus of the four horsemen is upon God&rsquo;s people in their land, and especially the city of Jerusalem, in the last days. The Old Testament allusions continue in the appendix to the seals which we find in Revelation 7:1-17. There, the sealing of some of God&rsquo;s people is obviously based upon Ez. 9:4, where the same was done to the faithful at the time of the Babylonian invasion.</p><p>The theme of &lsquo;seven&rsquo; judgments coming upon the land surely connects with the claim that Mohammad waged seven military campaigns against the infidels in the land promised to Abraham. The Hadith several times speaks of the &quot;seven military expeditions led by the Messenger of Allah himself (may peace be upon him)&quot; (e.g. Book 19.4469), or of the &ldquo;seven battles&rdquo; he was victorious in (Book 19.4462). This would explain the seven fold structure of the seals-trumpets-vials. The Moslem pretenders to the pattern of Mohamad bring seven judgments upon Israel, and are punished by likewise receiving back seven judgments, drinking the cup they made others to drink. The Hadith claims that Mohammad predicted three cycles of calamities in the last days, which would be subdivided into various other calamities: &quot;Hudhaifa b. al&minus;Yaman reported: By Allah, I have the best knowledge amongst people about every turmoil which is going to appear in the period intervening me and the Last Hour; and it is not for the fact that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) told me something confidentially pertaining to it and he did not tell anybody else about it, but it is because of the fact that I was present in the assembly in which he had been describing the turmoil. and he especially made a mention of three turmoils which would not spare anything and amongst these there would be turmoils like storms in the hot season&quot; (41.6908). This is exactly the Biblical picture- of three cycles of judgments and turmoils in the land (seals-trumpets-vials), subdivided into various specific calamities. As the jihadists strive to obey the letter of their writings, they will thereby be fulfilling the outline picture of the last day crisis which is foretold in Revelation.</p><p>The typology of the invasions recorded in Judges as well as those of Babylon and Assyria teaches that the latter day Arab incursions during the period of prolonged downtreading will have consciously aimed to destroy the agriculture and even the physical structure of the land of Israel.&nbsp;Dt. 28 and Lev. 26, which have a specific application to the latter-day curses upon Israel, emphasize this curse of famine and its related problems of disease and death. This is exactly the language of the seal, trumpet and vial judgments of Rev. 6,9 and 16, largely falling upon the earth/land of Israel.&nbsp;Our Lord's prophecy of famines at the time of the end had its primary fulfilment in the land of Israel around A.D. 70 - and its secondary reference is fundamentally to the land of Israel too (Lk. 21:11), although this does not rule out this prophecy's partial reference to famines in the surrounding world also.<br />It should be noted that the record of the curses in Lev. 26 splits them up into six sections, each introduced by a phrase like, &quot;If ye will not for this hearken unto me... then...&quot; more curses would come (Lev. 26:14,18,21,23,27,36).&nbsp;&nbsp; It is tempting to associate this with the series of six judgments to be poured upon Israel and the Arabs as outlined in the six seals (Rev. 6) and six vials (Rev. 16), leading up to the seventh period, of Israel's repentance and Christ's Kingdom.&nbsp;&nbsp; There are many other points of contact between the curses and the language of the seals and vials.&nbsp;&nbsp;The implication of this is that there are at least six periods of God's appeal to Israel to repent through their trials, which they will refuse to accept.&nbsp;&quot;If you will not for all this <i>hearken</i> unto me&quot; (Lev. 26:18) may suggest that God's word will be spoken to Israel along with the trials.&nbsp;This again indicates that the Elijah ministry will operate within Israel during their period of Arab downtreading.&nbsp;&quot;If you will not be <i>reformed</i> by me&quot; (Lev. 26:23) uses a Hebrew word elsewhere translated 'to teach', defined by Strong as 'to chastise by words'.&nbsp;This provides further confirmation of the idea.</p><p>It&rsquo;s noteworthy that the seven seals and seven trumpets and seven vials all conclude with the seventh being the establishment of the Kingdom. So there are actually six judgments in each case. The Hadith (Book 41.7040) speaks of six signs before the last day: &quot;Hasten in performing these good deeds (before these) six things (happen): (the appearance) of tribe Dijjal, the smoke, the beast of the earth, the rising of the sun from the west, the general turmoil (leading to large-scale massacre) and death of masses and individuals&quot;. These six are very similar to the things spoken of in the seals and trumpets- signs in the sun, mass death, smoke, beasts of the earth. The jihadists are seeking to consciously fulfil the Hadith and so, due to the allusions the Hadith and Koran make to Revelation, they will end up fulfilling God&rsquo;s word of their own volition.</p><p><b>The Seventh Seal?</b><br />It is my belief that prophecy is to some extent conditional, and the outcome is variable upon human repentance, God&rsquo;s gracious holding back of legitimate, prepared judgments, the intensity of His people&rsquo;s prayers etc. The lack of any detail about a seventh seal, even though it is opened, is significant. All we read is that there was silence in Heaven at that time for half an hour (Rev. 8:1). This has the same feel to it as the seven thunders whose details were specifically not written down (Rev. 10:4). Why mention them? I submit that the final judgments intended upon the land and God&rsquo;s people are not in fact going to be performed, although they are potentially prepared- because of God&rsquo;s gracious response to human repentance, prayer and the suffering of His dear people.</p><p>This idea that the seventh seal is not opened is confirmed by the observation that the sixth seal is the composite one that contains the trumpet and vial prophecies &mdash; the <i>sixth </i>seal and not the seventh.</p><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=185 valign=top>            <p><b>&nbsp;Sixth Seal</b></p>            </td>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p><b>Seven Trumpets</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 valign=top>            <p>(Revelation 6: 12-17)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 valign=top>            <p>great earthquake</p>            </td>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p>great earthquake (11:13)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p>another earthquake (11:19)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 valign=top>            <p>sun black</p>            </td>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p>third part of sun smitten (8: 12)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 valign=top>            <p>moon as blood</p>            </td>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p>third part of moon smitten (8:12)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 valign=top>            <p>stars fall from heaven</p>            </td>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p>&quot;there fell a great star from heaven&quot;   (8:10)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p>third part of stars smitten (8:12)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 valign=top>            <p>the great day of his wrath</p>            </td>            <td width=217 valign=top>            <p>&quot;thy wrath is come&quot; (11:18)</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=168 valign=top>            <p><b>Sixth Seal</b></p>            </td>            <td width=234 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p><b>Seven Vials</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=168 valign=top>            <p>great earthquake</p>            </td>            <td width=234 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p>great earthquake (16:18)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=168 valign=top>            <p>sun black</p>            </td>            <td width=234 colspan=3 valign=top>            <p>darkness in kingdom of beast</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>islands moved</p>            </td>            <td width=216 valign=top>            <p>every island fled away (16:20)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>mountains moved</p>            </td>            <td width=216 valign=top>            <p>mountains were not found (16:20)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=185 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p>the great day of his wrath</p>            </td>            <td width=216 valign=top>            <p>the vials of the wrath of God (16:1)</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p><br /><b>The Seals and the Olivet Prophecy</b> <br />It is clear enough that the Olivet Prophecy has application both to the &quot;last days&quot; of AD70 and also to our last days. Revelation is the Lord's expansion upon His words on Olivet- and therefore we should use this as a framework for interpreting the book. It applies to both the first century and also our last days, and the seals are perhaps the clearest example of this.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=252 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p><b>Revelation </b></p>            </td>            <td width=252 colspan=2 valign=top>            <p><b>Olivet Prophecy </b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>6:1,2</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Mt. 24:14</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:14</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Mt. 24:35</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:3,4</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:6,7</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:16</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Lk. 23:30</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:5,6</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:7</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:17</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Lk. 21:36</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:7,8</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:7</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>7:1</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Mt. 24:31</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:9</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:12</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:3</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Lk. 21:18,28</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:11</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:14</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:14</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Mt. 24:19,21</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:12</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:7</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>8:3</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Lk. 21:36</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:13</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:32</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>:5</p>            </td>            <td width=126 valign=top>            <p>Mt. 24:27</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>John was told that the events of the seals &quot;must take place&quot;- <i>dei genesthai</i>. The Olivet prophecy uses the same phrase (Mt. 24:6; Lk. 21:9).</p><p>We have seen that the Olivet prophecy describes the events of both AD70 and our present last days, with special reference to the tribulation of God's people, both natural and spiritual. The connections between the Olivet prophecy and the seals would therefore indicate that the seals, and therefore much of Revelation, has reference to these same two time periods. Fairly conclusive evidence for a pre-AD70 date for Revelation has now been published. In any case, the connections with the Olivet prophecy cannot be shrugged off as incidental. The seals, then, can be applied to our latter day tribulation. There seems no reason to insist that they should be interpreted chronologically; they can quite comfortably be seen as describing different aspects of the same period. This is how series of judgments described in the prophets often have their fulfilment (notably in Isaiah), rather than being a chronological prophecy of events. Zech. 12:3-11 is a passage which contains seven occurrences of the phrase &quot;In that day...&quot;. The passage does not have to be interpreted chronologically; this is a list of events which will occur around the same time, &quot;in that day&quot;. They are snapshots of the same scene from different angles. The seals and the repeated references to a three and a half year tribulation period can be understood likewise; they do not necessarily refer to chronologically different events, but are giving different aspects of information about the same basic scene. The lack of strict chronological sequence in prophecy is a major feature of the Old Testament; thus a consideration of the phrase &ldquo;in that day...&quot; in Isaiah reveals that the context 'jumps around' all over the place, from the first coming of Christ to the Babylonian invasion to the Kingdom. There is no reason to think that Revelation is any different.</p><p>All the seals must be opened if a scroll is to be opened. The scroll doesn&rsquo;t become partly visible because one seal has been broken. I suggest the imagery is chosen in this way in order to lead us away from seeking to interpret the events of the seals as being continuous historic, consecutive events. Rather are they different aspects of the total picture of what has to happen before the book of life can be opened. The idea of opening a sealed scroll is obviously alluding to Dan. 12:1-4, where Daniel was told that the scroll would be opened specifically in the last days- i.e. the seals to it would be then removed. This means that we have to look to the last days for the time when the seals are removed.</p><p>In my youth I attended regular continuous historic studies of Revelation, noting carefully in my wide margined Bible the suggested fulfilments of the various seals, trumpets and vials in events during the Roman empire and subsequent European history. Some of these fitted better than others. I couldn&rsquo;t deny that there was a fairly good fit in some areas, but in others, eyebrows had to be raised. The fit seemed forced and lacked the ring of truth in terms of credible interpretation. We don&rsquo;t need to take a red pencil and put a line through all those interpretations. Like the continuous historical interpretations of the image in Daniel 2, they have a certain validity. But just as the image was specifically about a latter day entity which stands erect and complete in the land promised to Abraham in the last days, destroyed in totality by the Lord&rsquo;s return, so Revelation has its major fulfilment in the last days. Any shadowy fulfilments we may discern over history are incidental compared to the ultimate and main, intended thrust of latter day prophecy- which is focused upon the events in the land promised to Abraham in the last days before Christ returns. We live at the end of human history; the previous fulfilments are but mere shadows compared to the ultimate reality which is now starting to unfold before our eyes.</p><p><b>The Horsemen</b> <br />The Hadith claims that the Moslems will be as horsemen in the final conflict at the end of the age: &quot;The Last Hour would not come until... there would be a terrible fight and the Muslims would prepare a detachment (for fighting unto death) which would not return but victorious... Allah will decree that the enemy should be routed... Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: I know their names and the names of their forefathers and the colour of their horses. They will be best horsemen on the surface of the earth on that day&quot;. (41.6927). As we find so often in Revelation, the descriptions of the main players are expressed in terms which fit admirably with Moslem self-understanding as expressed in the Koran and Hadith.</p><p><b>The Four Horsemen and Zechariah</b><br />The vision of horses going forth to bring judgment is clearly alluding to the similar vision in Zech. 1:8-12; 6:1-8, and we need to get a handle on what is in view there in order to understand how this will come true in the last days:</p><p>&ldquo;I stared into the night, and there was a man mounted on a red horse The horse was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. Then I asked, &quot;Who are these, sir?&quot; The messenger who was talking to me answered, &quot;I will tell you who these are.&quot; The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, &quot;These are the ones whom the LORD sent out to wander throughout the earth.&quot; Then they reported to the angel of the LORD who stood among the myrtle trees, &quot;We have wandered throughout the earth&mdash;and look&mdash;the entire earth is at rest. Everything is quiet and peaceful.&quot; And the angel of the LORD replied, &quot;LORD of the Heavenly Armies, how long will it be until you show mercy to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, with whom you have been angry for these past seventy years?&quot;&hellip; Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses&mdash;all of them strong.&nbsp; Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, &quot;What are these, my lord?&quot;. And the angel answered and said to me, &quot;These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.&quot; When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, &quot;Go, patrol the earth.&quot; So they patrolled the earth.&nbsp;&nbsp; Then he cried to me, &quot;Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.&quot;</p><p>The horses of Zechariah 1 are those nations who have trampled up and down the earth / land of Israel, subduing it until it is quiet. The chariots / horses of Zechariah 6 are the Angel cherubim representatives of those nations, who are sent out against them in judgment. Such judgment is portended in chapter 1 also, where straight after the vision of the horses we read of the four horns who have abused Israel being cut off by the carpenter Messiah of Israel. Significantly, there is an Angel stationed with the horses in the valley from which they emerge, as if to show that the judgments upon the land were Angelically controlled; Israel was not at the hands of chance human evil, indeed the horses report back to the Angel. This sets the scene for the horses / chariots of chapter 6 going out in judgment against those nations. The land lying still and at rest is explained further in 1:11,12- it was because the cities of Judah were lying in ruins after the horse powers had trampled over them. This all looks forward to how Jerusalem shall be trodden down in the last days, after the pattern of how the Babylonians trod it down (Is. 5:5; 28:18; 63:18; Lk. 21:24)- which is when this prophecy will have its final fulfilment. We can look, therefore, for the three or four entities which trod down the land and people of Israel to have their latter day equivalent, and a like judgment from Heaven. And this is what Revelation 6 is explaining in more detail- in a latter day context. The immediate message in Zechariah&rsquo;s time was therefore that a future treading down of the land and Jerusalem was to happen, but the silver lining of that cloud was that this would finally lead to the eternal restoration of Israel. This is exactly the same style as in Ezekiel 38; we noted in studying the context of that prophecy that it was given at the time when news of Jerusalem&rsquo;s fall had come to the rebellious captives in Babylon amongst whom Ezekiel was sitting. They were being told that another even worse desolation was to happen, patterned after the events they were now hearing of, and yet from this would come the eternal restoration of Israel in God&rsquo;s Kingdom on earth. But not immediately.</p><p>The two brass mountains of Zech. 6 are from where the horses / judgments issue forth- towards the north and south of Israel. The mountains must therefore be in central Israel. I suggest the mountains in view are both in Jerusalem- the Mount of Olives and Mount Zion, in between which is the valley of Jehoshaphat. These mountains and that valley are from where God&rsquo;s latter day judgments proceed (Joel 3:2,16; Zech. 14:14). Or it may be that they are the two mountains formed by the cleavage of the Mount of Olives predicted in Zech. 14:4, at which time &ldquo;half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half toward the south&rdquo;. This would connect with the horses / chariots going out towards the north and south here in Zech. 6. Any difficulties with exact chronology may be accounted for by the suggestion that the meaning and nature of time will change in the time around the Lord&rsquo;s coming, as I have outlined at length in <i>The Last Days</i>.</p><p>The four horses / chariots are understood by most commentators to have connection with the four metals and beasts of Daniel&rsquo;s prophecies. Their connection with the four winds / spirits of the Heavens (Zech. 6:5) recalls the way that the four beasts of Daniel 7 arise as a result of the same four winds / spirits being active. I have explained elsewhere that the four metals and beasts of Daniel&rsquo;s prophecies refer to powers that will dominate the land and people of Israel in the last days, whatever historical application they may have had. The metals and beasts all exist together in the last days, because they are all judged together at the coming of Christ to earth.</p><p><b>Potential Fulfilments of the Horses of Zechariah Chapters 1 and 6</b> <br />The way prophetic words can be rescheduled in fulfilment is demonstrated by the 70 years. They came to fulfilment at the time of Daniel&rsquo;s prayer in Dan. 9:2; but also at the fall of Babylon and edict of Cyrus (2 Chron. 36:22,23; Ezra 1:1); and yet also in the second year of Darius (Zech. 1:1,12). This latter period would have been timed from the actual destruction of the temple (2 Kings 25:2,8,9); whereas the captivity began before that. And the predicted restoration didn&rsquo;t happen as prophesied. But it will ultimately happen- at the Lord&rsquo;s return.</p><p>The little horn of Daniel 7 grows out of the fourth kingdom, represented by the fourth beast. But in Daniel 8, a very similar horn grows out of Greece, the third kingdom. We can therefore conclude that the antichrist figure of Daniel 8 would have appeared as an outgrowth of the Greek kingdom, and been destroyed by Messiah&rsquo;s coming. But this didn&rsquo;t happen, and Antiochus Epiphanes became but an incipient fulfilment of the antichrist of the last days. Zechariah, like Daniel, contains many conditional prophecies- &ldquo;And this shall come to pass, <i>if </i>you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God&rdquo; (Zech. 6:15). Zech. 9:13 appears to be another such conditional prophecy, similar in reference to that of Daniel 8 about the possibility of Messiah&rsquo;s coming at the time of the Greek empire. God says He will place Ephraim within the bow of Judah, to be fired at her enemies; and He would &ldquo;raise up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece&rdquo; (Zech. 9:13), leading to the final salvation of God&rsquo;s people, the establishment of Messiah&rsquo;s Kingdom, and her Messianic king coming unto her (Zech. 9:9). But this didn&rsquo;t come true; the resistance of the Maccabees was not based on true spirituality, and the Romans took over control of the land from the Greeks. No Messianic Kingdom was established. This would explain the purposeful ambiguity of interpretation which there is in the image of Daniel 2; a good case can be made for the sequence Babylon-Media-Persia-Greece, and yet also for the sequence Babylon-Medo Persia- Greece-Rome. Daniel 8 predicts the breakup of the Greek empire after Alexander&rsquo;s death into four horns, out of which a little horn arises (Dan. 8:8). The only other prophetic reference to four horns is again in Zechariah, when we read of how the four horns who had scattered God&rsquo;s people were to be cut off by the carpenters (Zech. 1:18,19).&nbsp; The carpenters surely look forward to the carpenter Messiah. He could have appeared and cut off those four horns; but He did not, and so another prophetic sequence was allowed, in which another fourth beast arose, this time with ten horns, not just four. And in Revelation we find this developed further, in that seven heads also appear on the beast, and a whore rides the best, sitting upon another? seven hills / kingdoms. The number and ferocity of the enemies of God&rsquo;s people seems to increase over time. If Israel had repented earlier, then all this would have been unnecessary. The three horses of Zechariah 1 thus become four horses in Zechariah 6. The fact the four cherubim chariots are sent out in judgment of those same coloured horses speaks of how all earthly entities have their representative Angels in Heaven.</p><p>This same situation can be found in the way that Zechariah 1 opens the prophecy with a vision of three kinds of horses- red, white and speckled. These represented the powers which had subdued the land of Judah and left it in the desolate state it was at the time of Zechariah (Zech. 1:12). It&rsquo;s tempting to interpret them as Assyria, Babylon and Medo-Persia; or perhaps Babylon, Media and Persia. Straight away, we read of <i>four </i>horns, representing the powers who had desolated God&rsquo;s people; and how they would be destroyed by the carpenters, surely looking forward to the carpenter Messiah. And the vision of Zech. 6 has <i>four</i> and not <i>three </i>kinds of horses- red, black, white and speckled. This may be Zechariah&rsquo;s way of saying that because of Israel&rsquo;s inability to fulfil the required spiritual preconditions, the longer version of the prophetic program was going to come into play. Although as always, there is the distinct message of hope, that finally God&rsquo;s triumphant purpose with Israel shall come to realization.</p><p><b>The Final Scenario</b> <br />The vision of Zechariah 6 could have had fulfilment in Zechariah&rsquo;s time; the three horses of Gentile oppressors in chapter 1 are matched by the horses of the Divine cherubim in chapter 6, who are sent forth to judge those powers. But there are four of them- because by the time of chapter 6, the prophetic program had been extended to coax repentance from Israel. And now in Revelation 6, we have a similar scene in the last days- four horses of different colours are sent out into the earth / land of Israel. The context is the same- these are the powers which will dominate Israel in the last days, under Angelic control, in order to bring about her repentance and eternal restitution to God. I don&rsquo;t think we have to look for four literal entities. The &lsquo;four&rsquo; clearly connect with the four beasts and four metals, and the speckled horses of Zechariah invite comparison with the feet or iron and clay; especially if we read the Hebrew <i>amots</i> in Zech. 6:3 as meaning &lsquo;red&rsquo; AV &ldquo;bay&rdquo;- they would be speckled with red, as if the strength of the red horse was partially in them. Until Zechariah&rsquo;s time, there had been various horses of Gentile powers, the fulfilments of the metals of Daniel 2 and the beasts of Daniel 7, dominating the land and people of Israel. They had trodden down the land and people until they were silent (Zech. 1:10,11). This treading down is to happen in the last days, when the image stands complete, and all the beasts exist together. This is the burden of the first four horses pictured in the first four seals.</p><p>We need not look for these events to come chronologically; for all the seals have to be removed before a scroll can be opened. The event of &lsquo;opening the scroll&rsquo; is presented by the metaphor as one event, and the seals are presenting different aspects of the events required for the scroll to be opened.</p><p>The horses were &ldquo;sent&rdquo; by Yahweh &ldquo;to walk to and fro through the land&rdquo; (Zech. 1:10). These are the same Hebrew words found in Jer. 25:9 for how Yahweh &ldquo;sent&hellip; all the families of the north&hellip;and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon&rdquo; into the land. The horses are thus confirmed to represent the nations who had subjugated the land. And the same Hebrew words are found in Hab. 1:6: &ldquo;I raise up the Chaldeans&hellip; which shall march s.w. &ldquo;walk to and fro&rdquo; through the land&rdquo;. These horses are effectively parallel with the four horns who &lsquo;scattered&rsquo; Israel (Zech. 1:19). Israel were to be &ldquo;scattered s.w. beyond the Euphrates&rdquo; (1 Kings 14:15); the number four is not perhaps referring to four specific powers, but rather alluding to the way that Israel&rsquo;s domination according to Daniel&rsquo;s visions was to be by &lsquo;four&rsquo; entities.</p><p>The coloured horsemen of Revelation 6 are therefore full of reference to the nations who subdued the land and people of Israel, and also to the Angelic powers who ultimately permitted those nations to do that work, and who finally judged them. The horsemen are presented in Revelation as clearly under the control of the living creatures, the Angel cherubim, and that was the same as in Zechariah. The first horse was white and conquering; this doesn&rsquo;t mean that firstly there was a period of military victory, followed by one of hunger and necessity. The seals don&rsquo;t have to be chronologically separate from each other. The opening of the book of life will require a military conquering of the land / earth of Israel, as well as the sufferings of the other seals hunger, famine etc..</p>