Last week, our study of the Book of Revelation and the End Times continued with examining the overarching themes, and introducing the breaking of the 7 seals. This week, we will reveal seals 2–7, trumpets, and vials.

The second seal will be a rider on a red horse who will steal the illusion of peace from the earth. He will have a great sword and will simulate war (Revelation 6:3–4). The overarching reference to “earth” in this passage of Scripture denotes more of a global rather than national event.

The third seal will be a rider on a black horse with a balance in his hand. There will be famine in the land with his arrival (Revelation 6:5–6). There is speculation as to what will cause the famine and when it will begin (possibly with the arrival of the red horse). Poverty will result from this widespread famine.

The fourth seal will be a pale horse called “death,” and hell will follow with him. (Revelation 6:7–8). The earth will see a fourth of the population killed at this time. However, even with widespread death and destruction, there will still be people who believe all has been caused by natural disasters (strong delusion) rather than by the hand of God.

There are many questions if there will be people saved after the rapture of the church. In this seal, souls will be revealed that have been slain for the Word of God (Revelation 6:9–11). We can assume there will be a type of salvation after the rapture, but the church should not plan on securing their salvation at this time—our goal should be to escape from tribulation and make the rapture.

There are two types of “tribulation saints” that we see in Scripture. There are those who are protected (Revelation 7:1–8), the 144,000 sealed saints, which possibly points to a remnant church of the Jewish nation. There are also persecuted saints (Revelation 7:9–14) who will be martyred for their beliefs.

Much will occur during the unveiling of this seal—earthquakes, blackened sun, blood moon, and falling stars. The earth will be wrought with trembling and destruction, which again will be widespread instead of confined to a few areas of the globe (Revelation 6:12–17). Some people who are surviving during this time will be aware it is God’s wrath coming down upon the earth (Revelation 6:16).

John sees seven angels standing before God with seven trumpets in their hands. They prepared themselves to sound for what is yet to fall upon the earth (Revelation 8:1–6).

One third of the earth’s vegetation will be burned by fire which falls from heaven. We can foresee this destruction will cause an ecological disaster as trees are a vital source for producing oxygen. All of the green grass will be burned during this time as well (Revelation 8:7).

One third of the sea will become blood which will cause the death of a third of the sea creatures. The end result w