Commentaries on the seals of chapter 6 most often focus on the significance of the horses or their color or the identity of the riders or the fulfillment of the prophecy in history. Yet, the breaking of the seals bears a compelling similarity to the instructions the Apostle Paul gave to the Thessalonians and with the events of the visions in Daniel 7 and Daniel 11. Perhaps these scriptures better explain the purpose of chapter 6 at this point in the narrative.
Paul taught the Thessalonians that the return of Jesus for His saints comes as a thief in the night and that they should remain vigilant (1Thessalonians 5:1-6). A rumor that the second advent had occurred prompted the Thessalonians to ask Paul if Christ had returned without their knowing. Paul’s response gives insight into the events that must occur before Christ’s return.
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
(2Thessalonians 2:1-10 NKJV bold added for emphasis)
Paul’s assurance to the Thessalonians that they had not missed the coming of Jesus was based on two observable events; the great falling away from the Gospel of Jesus as the Christ and the revealing of the man who epitomizes sin v 3. Satan’s efforts to bring this man to power is being restrained until the proper time for his revealing vv 7-10.
It may not be obvious how 2Thessalonians 2:7 applies to the seals in Revelation 6. The link lies with the One doing the restraining. The Restrainer is standing in the middle, between, Satan efforts and the rise of the one commonly referred to as the antichrist. A more literal translation of verse 7 expresses the Restrainer’s position as One standing in the middle or between.
7 for the secret of lawlessness already works, only the [One] now restraining [will do so] until He may come out of [the] midst,
(2Thessalonians 2:7 LSV)
The phrase “until He may come out of the midst” is literally in the Greek “until He out of the middle comes about”. At the proper time the restrainer will step out of the way.
The same idea of the One restraining the efforts of Satan to reveal the man of sin until the proper time and for Him to move out of the way is given at the end of Daniel 10 and the beginning of Daniel 11.
20 Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece[Javan] will come.
(Daniel 10:20 NKJV brackets added for clarity)
2 And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece[Javan].
3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will
(Daniel 11:2-3 NKJV brackets added for clarify)
The Hebrew word יוֹצֵ֔א translated have gone forth means to go out or exit. The One talking with Daniel is saying, “When I finish contending with the prince of Persia I will exit, get out of the way, and the prince of Javan will come”, the mighty Javan king that rises. It is the same restraining until the proper time the Apostle Paul told the Thessalonians would precede the second advent of Jesus.
The book of Daniel gives the greatest insights into the rising of the man of sin and Daniel 11 begins with the efforts by the Restrainer to thwart the antichrist’s rising until the proper time. At the close of the this vision in his book, Daniel is told:
4“But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
(Daniel 12:4 NKJV bold added for emphasis)
The One telling Daniel to seal the book until the time of the end is the same One breaking the seals at the time of the end in Revelation 6*. The breaking of the seals corresponds to the events described in Daniel 11 and 12.
Perhaps the greatest barrier to associating the last vision in the book of Daniel with the breaking of the seals is the unfortunate changing of the Hebrew word Javan to Greece in the Greek translation of Daniel 8, 10, & 11, although it was done with good intention. To the 2nd century BCE Septuagint translators, the 6th century BCE Javan, the Javan of Daniel’s time, was part of the Greek empire. By changing the name of Javan to Greece the 2nd century BCE readers would better understand its location. The Javan of Daniel’s time was Anatolia which had Greek colonization as far back as the 16th century BCE and was part of the Greek empire at the time of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. Today Anatolia is part of modern-day Turkey. The seven churches of Revelation 2-3 were all located in the land of Javan.
Daniel was told that a conflict between the fourth king of Persia and the empire of Javan (Daniel 11:2-3) leads to the rise of a mighty Javan king resulting in years of war and destruction in the Middle East (Daniel 11:4-20). The consequence of this protracted conflict is the coming of the man of sin who sets up the abomination of desolation** and causes the great falling away from worshiping God Almighty (Daniel 11:31-32).
With the breaking of the seals in Revelation 6 the events of Daniel 11-12 begin. The first seal sees the rise of a mighty Javan king going forth to conquer and followed by the consequences from years of destruction symbolized through seals two through four. Seal five is the persecution of the faithful given in Daniel 11:33-35 and seal six is the judgment of the unfaithful seen in Daniel 12:1. The symbolism of Revelation 6 as the events of Daniel 11 implies that the last seven of the 70 sevens prophecy of Daniel 9, the last week of years, has not begun at this point in the narrative of Revelation. The events of the first half of Daniel 11 occur over many years and conform to the prophecy Jesus gave His disciples in the Gospel of Matthew.
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
(Matthew 24:6-8 NKJV bold added for emphasis)
Turkey is the modern-day Javan of Daniel’s time and Iran the modern-day Persia. Iran has had two supreme rulers since its inception as a Muslim state and currently it seeks to be the leader of the Muslim world as does Turkey. If we are on the threshold of the events that lead to the return of Jesus, then the ram and goat of Daniel 8 and the kingdoms of Daniel 11:2 can be identified as Turkey and Iran. If this hypothesis is correct, then the fourth supreme leader of Iran will inherit a powerful state in the Middle East and he will incite an assault against Turkey. This assault leads to the breaking of the first seal of Revelation 6 symbolizing the rise of the mighty Javan ruler of Daniel 11 and eventually the following seals with their wars, famine, and pestilence spoken of in Matthew 24, and the reconfiguration of the power centers in the Middle East that leads to the persecution of the saints and the rise of the antichrist.
The rest of the book of Revelation picks up where Daniel leaves off. But first there is a new seal that must be established, the seal of the living God (Revelation 7:2).
* See The Daniel Connection
http://revelationrosettastone.blog/2022/09/03/thoughts-on-revelation-chapter-1/
** See Matthew 24:9-22