Catholic Commentary on Revelation 6

"How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" (Revelation 6:10)

The Four Horsemen

As the Lamb opens the first four seals, four riders go out on white, red, black, and pale horses, representing conquest, war, famine, and death. These are not sequential historical events but the permanent features of the fallen world, the forces that threaten human life in every age. They are given authority to kill by sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts. The vision does not explain why God permits these realities; it places them within the larger framework of divine sovereignty. The seals are opened by the Lamb, which means that even the worst of history's catastrophes are not outside the knowledge or the ultimate authority of the crucified and risen Christ.

The Martyrs beneath the Altar

The fifth seal reveals souls under the altar, those who have been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they maintained. They cry out: How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood? Each of them is given a white robe and told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants has been completed. The Catechism identifies this as the prayer of the martyrs for the final judgment, an intercession that the Church on earth joins when it prays Marana tha, Come Lord Jesus (CCC 2817). The white robes are the righteousness of Christ given to those who have testified with their lives.

The sixth seal brings cosmic upheaval: earthquake, the sun turns black, the moon turns blood red, the stars fall, every mountain and island is removed from its place. The kings and generals and mighty hide in caves and call on the mountains to fall on them: hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. The wrath of the Lamb: only in Revelation does the sacrificial victim also exercise judgment. The one who absorbed the world's violence bears it no longer.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, how long? The cry of the martyrs beneath the altar is the cry of every person who has prayed and waited without visible answer. God's response is a white robe and a promise: wait a little longer. The waiting is not indifference. It is the space in which the full number is completed, in which more people are given the opportunity to respond. Wait in the white robe. The answer is coming.

Prayer

Sovereign Lord, holy and true, you hear the cry of your martyrs beneath the altar. Give us the white robe of your righteousness while we wait. Sustain the faith of those who suffer for your name. And come, Lord Jesus, to judge the earth in righteousness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

6
The First Seal: The White Horse
1 Then I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a thunderous voice, “Come!”
 
2 So I looked and saw a white horse, and its rider held a bow. And he was given a crown, and he rode out to overcome and conquer.
The Second Seal: War
 
3 And when the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”
 
4 Then another horse went forth. It was bright red, and its rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. And he was given a great sword.
The Third Seal: Famine
 
5 And when the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!”
 
Then I looked and saw a black horse, and its rider held in his hand a pair of scales. 6 And I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius,* 6:6 Greek A choenix of wheat for a denarius. A choenix was a Greek dry measure equivalent to 1.92 pints or 0.91 liters. A denarius was customarily a day’s wage for a laborer; see Matthew 20:2. and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine.”
The Fourth Seal: Death
 
7 And when the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”
 
8 Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.
The Fifth Seal: The Martyrs
 
9 And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
 
11 Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.
The Sixth Seal: Terror
 
12 And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
 
15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us † 6:16 See Hosea 10:8. from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. 17 For the great day of Their ‡ 6:17 BYZ and TR His wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”

*6:6 6:6 Greek A choenix of wheat for a denarius. A choenix was a Greek dry measure equivalent to 1.92 pints or 0.91 liters. A denarius was customarily a day’s wage for a laborer; see Matthew 20:2.

†6:16 6:16 See Hosea 10:8.

‡6:17 6:17 BYZ and TR His

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