Because of the word "hereafter" in Revelation 4:1, my position is that none of the seals were opened prior to the giving of The Revelation.  But, if the first four seals parallel and connect with what Jesus warned of in the opening of His Olivet Discourse (e.g., Matt. 24:4-9), and what He there warned of began to happen before the opening of any seals, how is this seeming discrepancy to be understood?

     First of all, we know that Satan has always worked in ways that are similar, meaning, ways that are consistent with the realm of evil and what he is.  Also, as a created being, whatever his abilities and liberties, these have always been subject to Almighty God.  This being understood, it should not surprise us to find evidences of his activity and things that will align with what Jesus warned of taking place before the giving of The Revelation.  But, there are also evidences of a development relating to all of this that is consistent with the time that John received The Revelation, something that easily aligns with what we see with the opening of the first four seals.

     The development I am speaking of may best be realized by a consideration of the horses John saw with the opening of the first seals.  Try to imagine what the activity of the four riders might have been, before they were given their horses.  While the character of the riders would have remained the same both before and after they received their mounts, with their mounts, they would have went from being footmen to being horsemen, to apply a physical realm analogy.  This would at least translate into an ability to cover greater distances more swiftly.

     With the first century spread of the Gospel and the growth of the Church, Satan would have certainly savored any concession of God that would have allowed him to more effectively counter this.  With the ever increasing population and expansion of people on the earth, it is easy to envision him negotiating with God for an ability increase and/or some change in his liberties.  It must be remembered that he nor his cohorts would have any abilities or liberties outside of what has been granted to them by God.  I submit that what is revealed to us with the opening of the first four seals is a behind the scenes look at the abilities and liberties he negotiated for, which he began to utilize as soon as Christ began to open the seals.  In accord with what I have put forth throughout this website, both Scripture and history supports that Christ began to open the seals as early as late in the first century (95-100 A.D.) and that the four horsemen have been riding their steeds down through the corridors of history, even unto our day, bent on accomplishing Satan's sadistic desires.

     There are also other things of relevance that bear upon the difference or development of which I am speaking.  From a first century perspective, it has been helpful for me to think in terms of the generation of the Church, which later became what we refer to as the Church Age.  There was no concept of a Church "Age" until sometime after the deaths of the apostles, and John was the last of the apostles.  The more I have thought on this, the more I have come to see The Revelation as being given to John for the express sake of the Church from that time forward, just before his passing.  Now, in retrospect, and according to the understandings I have put forth in this website, it can be seen that The Revelation was every bit as relevant for Christians then as it is in our day.  In other words, it was every bit as relevant for the seven churches in Asia that it was initially given to as it has been for any church in any century since.

     In accord with all the foregoing, I see the four entities of the first four seals as being active in the same way they were before the opening of the seals, only without the benefit of the horses, so to speak.  Kinda like what it was with Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang.  Whether on foot or horseback, they were the same outlaws.  Thinking in these terms, it is not difficult to see that there is indeed a real connection between what Jesus warned of in the opening of His Olivet Discourse and the first four seals, nor that the earliest Christians would have seen evidences of these things before any of the seals were actually opened (e.g., II Thess. 2:7;  I Jn. 4:1-3).  Down through the centuries since John's receiving of The Revelation these things have happened on an increasingly larger scale.  In accord with what I have put forth in the course of this website, I attribute this to the opening of the first four seals near the close of the first century, which would have been near the time of John's passing.

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(origin is PROPOSITION L)

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