so you believed that the great multitude (tribulation saints) is the church???
not quite:
I believe the great multitude is the raptured church.
Here is an excerpt from my commentary: The Greek text in my comments will not paste properly because CC doesn't recognize the font I used
and my hyperlinks will not work.
Revelation 6
{Return to: Table of Contents }
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder This frequently accompanies the Divine presence; especially when He involves himself in the affairs of men.
(See: Ex 9:23, 29, 1Sa 2:10, 7:10, 12:17-18, Ps 77:18, 104:7, Is 29:6)
{Return to: Rv 8:5 }
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
he that sat on him We can be certain that this is NOT Jesus (Yeshua), who does appear on a white horse in Rv 19:11. One clue that this is not Jesus (Yeshua) is that the crown (ste/fano$) that was given him was a Roman victory wreath; NOT the crowns (diadh/mata) of Christ. (See Rv 19:12). This was probably the Roman emperor Trajan, who extended the Roman Empire into India. He ruled 98-117A.D; probably during the time John was writing Revelation; and was a persecutor of the Church.
The end time significance, since the seals were not yet been broken in the time of Trajan, is that the white horse signifies conquest and heavy taxation. {Return to: Zc 6:3}
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
This likely refers to the civil wars that ravaged Rome following the assassination of Commodus in 193 A.D.; but, it will likely have a second fulfillment in the time of the Antichrist, or shortly before his rise to power. The red horse signifies war and violence.
{Return to: Zc 1:8, Zc 6:2 }
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
he that sat on him This is likely Diocletian 284-305 A.D.; who ruled during a time of great famine and was a harsh persecutor of the Church. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of barley for a denarius; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
denarius a Roman coin representing a day’s wages. This would be about eight times the usual price.
and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
The particular order, under this oppressive system of taxation, respecting the preservation of vineyards and oliveyards, may be referred to, also, as corresponding to the command sent forth under this rider, not to "hurt the oil and the wine." That order was in the following words: "If anyone shall sacrilegiously cut a vine, or stint the fruit of prolific boughs, and craftily feign poverty in order to avoid a fair assessment, he shall, immediately on detection, suffer death, and his property be confiscated" (Cod. Theod. l. xiii. lib. xi. seq.; Gibbon, i. 358, note). Mr. Gibbon remarks: "Although this law is not without its studied obscurity, it is, however, clear enough to prove the minuteness of the inquisition, and the disproportion of the penalty."
(from Barnes' Notes, in Public Domain via E-Sword.)
The end time significance, since the seals were not opened in the time of Diocletian, is that the black horse signifies famine. {Return to: Zc 6:2 }
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Thus, speaking of this whole period (248 A.D. - 268 A.D.), embracing the reigns of Decius, Gallus, Aemilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus, he says, "From the great secular games celebrated by Philip to the death of the emperor Gallienus, there elapsed twenty years of shame and misfortune. During this calamitous period every instant of time was marked, every province of the Roman world was afflicted by barbarous invaders and military tyrants, and the ruined empire seemed to approach the last and fatal moment of its dissolution," i. 135.
(a) The killing with the sword. A fulfillment of this, so far as the words are concerned, might be found indeed in many portions of Roman history, but no one can doubt that it was eminently true of this period. It was the period of the first Gothic invasion of the Roman empire;.... Of this invasion Mr. Gibbon says, "This is the first considerable occasion (the fact that the emperor Decius was summoned to the banks of the Danube, 250 A.D., by the invasion of the Goths) in which history mentions that great people, who afterward broke the Roman power, sacked the Capitol, and reigned in Gaul, Spain, and Italy. So memorable was the part which they acted in the subversion of the Western empire, that the name of GOTHS is frequently, but improperly, used as a general appellation of rude and warlike barbarism," i. p. 136.As one of the illustrations that the "sword" would be used by "Death" in this period, we may refer to the siege and capture of Philippolis. "A hundred thousand persons are reported to have been massacred in the sack of that great city" (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, i. 140). "The whole period," says Mr. Gibbon, speaking of the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, "was one uninterrupted series of confusion and calamity. "Such were the barbarians," says Mr. Gibbon in the close of his description of the Goths at this period, and of the tyrants that reigned, "and such the tyrants, who, under the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, dismembered the provinces, and reduced the empire to the lowest pitch of disgrace and ruin, from whence it seemed impossible that it should ever emerge," i. 158.
(b) Famine: "Shall kill with hunger." This would naturally be the consequence of long-continued wars, and of such invasions as those of the Goths. Mr. Gibbon says of this period: "Our habits of thinking so fondly connect the order of the universe with the fate of man, that this gloomy period of history has been decorated with inundations, earthquakes, uncommon meteors, preternatural darkness, and a crowd of prodigies, fictitious or exaggerated. But a long and general famine was a calamity of a more serious kind. It was the inevitable consequence of rapine and oppression, which extirpated the produce of the present, and the hope of future harvests," i. p. 159. Prodigies, and preternatural darkness, and earthquakes, were not seen in the vision of the opening of the seal-but war and famine were; and the facts stated by Mr. Gibbon are such as would be now appropriately symbolized by Death on the pale horse.
(from Barnes' Notes, in Public Domain via E-Sword.) continued 82 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
verse copied because comments overflow page.
(c) Pestilence: "And shall kill with death." Of the pestilence which raged in this period Mr. Gibbon makes the following remarkable statement, in immediate connection with what he says of the famine: "Famine is almost always followed by epidemical diseases, the effect of scanty and unwholesome food. Other causes must, however, have contributed to the furious plague, which, from the year 250 to the year 265, raged without interruption in every province, every city, and almost every family of the Roman empire. During some time five thousand persons died daily at Rome; and many towns that had escaped the hands of the barbarians were entirely depopulated," i. 159.
(d) Wild beasts: "And shall kill with the beasts of the earth." As already remarked, these are formidable enemies in the early stages of society, and when a country becomes, from any cause, depopulated. They are not mentioned by Mr. Gibbon as contributing to the decline and fall of the empire, or as connected with the calamities that came upon the world at that period. But no one can doubt that in such circumstances they would be likely to abound, especially if the estimate of Mr. Gibbon be correct (i. 159), when speaking of these times, and making an estimate of the proportion of the inhabitants of Alexandria that had perished-which he says was more than one-half-he adds, "Could we venture to extend the analogy to the other provinces, we might suspect that war, pestilence, and famine had consumed in a few years the moiety of the human species." Yet, though not adverted to by Mr. Gibbon, there is a record pertaining to this very period, which shows that this was one of the calamities with which the world was then afflicted.
It occurs in Arnobius, Adv. Gentes, lib. i. p. 5. Within a few years after the death of Gallienus (about 300 A.D.) he speaks of wild beasts in such a manner as to show that they were regarded as a sore calamity. The public peril and suffering on this account were so great, that in common with other evils this was charged on Christians as one of the judgments of heaven which they brought upon the world. In defending Christians against the general charge that these judgments were sent from heaven on their account, he adverts to the prevalence of wild beasts, and shows that they could not have been sent as a judgment on account of the existence of Christianity, by the fact that they had prevailed also in the times of paganism, long before Christianity was introduced into the empire. "Quando cum feris bella, et proelia cum leonibus gesta sunt? Non ante nos? Quando pernicies populis venenatis ab anguibus data est? Non ante nos?" "When were wars waged with wild beasts, and contests with lions? Was it not before our times? When did a plague come upon people poisoned by serpents? Was it not before our times?"
(from Barnes' Notes, in Public Domain via E-Sword.)
It is admittedly arguable whether bay and grisled horses can be described as pale; but, to me, it seems to be the case here. {Return to: Is 24:4, Is 28:22, Zc 6:3 }
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
The souls of the martyrs were present in visible form under the alter.
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
{Return to: Da 12:6 }
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
{Return to: Da 11:35 }
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
{Return to: Is 24:20, Is 24:23 }
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
stars (a)ste/re$) of heaven fell unto the earth Both the Greek word a)ste/re$ and the Hebrew word <ybµ!k*oK can signify either stars or angels of light. Since the smallest star is much larger than the earth; angels of light must be intended.
(See: Job 38:7, Jg 5:20, Is 14:12-13, Is 34:4, Rv 1:20, Rv 9:1)
{Return to: Is 14:13, Is 34:4, Mt 2:2, Mk 13:25, Ac 2:20, Rv 8:10, Rv 12:4 }
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together This is preparatory to the new heaven and new earth. The current heaven is not said to be damaged; only scrolled up and moved aside. The atmosphere must still be present because people continue to live; and the sun, moon, and stars are still visible. (See: Rv 8:12, Rv 9:2)
and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. This is likely more poetic than literal; but violent earthquakes are certainly indicated.
{Return to: Is 24:19, Is 34:4 }
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
All who had previously rejected the claims of Christ on their lives would now see their error and attempt to flee from His wrath. {Return to: Is 2:10, Lk 23:30 }
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Before the wrath of God is poured out on the ungodly, the Church must be gathered out.
(See: Ro 1:18-20, Ro 2:5-9, Ro 5:6-9 ) {Return to: Rv 10:2 }Revelation 7
{Return to: Table of Contents }
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
four corners of the earth Two angels were standing back to back facing north and south. At the same location , two angels were standing back to back facing East and west. (See note at Is 11:12.)
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Even after the Church is taken out of the World, God’s servants will be protected from God’s wrath.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Juda See Ex 28:18 [Emerald], and Rv 21:19 [Emerald]
Reuben See Ex 28:17 [Carnelian = Ruby] and Rv 21:20 [Sardius;]
Gad See Ex 28:19 [Jacinth] and Rv 21:20 [Jacinth;]
{Return to: Ex 28:17, Ex 28:18, Ex 28:19 }
6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Asher See Ex 28:19 [Agate = Chalcedony] and Rv 21:19 [Chalcedony;]
Naphtali See Ex 28:18 [Sapphire;] and Rv 21:19 [Sapphire;]
Manasses See Ex 28:20 [Chrysolite] and Rv 21:20 [Chrysolite;]
Replaces Dan {Return to: Ex 28:18, Ex 28:19, Ex 28:20 }
7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Simeon See Ex 28:17 [Topaz] and Rv 21:20 [Topaz]
Levi See Ex 28:17 [Smaragd= Chrysoprasus ] and Rv 21:20 [Sardius;]
Issachar See Ex 28:19 [Amethyst] and Rv 21:20 [Amethyst]
{Return to: Ex 28:17, Ex 28:19, } 8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
Zabulon See Ex 28:20 [Jasper] and Rv 21:19 [Jasper]
Joseph See Ex 28:20 [Onyx] and Rv 21:20 [Chrysolite]
Benjamin See Ex 28:20 [Beryl] and Rv 21:20 [Beryl]
{Return to: Ex 28:18, Ex 28:20, Rv 14:1 }
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
This is the first evidence in John’s Revelation that the rapture has occurred.
{Return to: Is 19:18, Jer 33:24, Eze 48:1, Da 12:3, verse 14 }
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb.
belongs to (or from or of ) There is no preposition used here; only a genitive case pronoun is used. The intent is to show possession. God is the imparter, not the recipient of salvation. Jesus is a transliteration of the Hebrew word Yeshua, so another possible reading is: ‘Yeshua (Jesus) is part of God’.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
13 And one of the elders spake, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
spake (a)pekri/qh) he began speaking (he spake)
What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? The elder is not asking for information. This is a frequently used Jewish style of teaching.
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
They are, in fact, the Church. They are all who were saved in all times and places as demonstrated by verse 9. {Return to: Da 11:35 }
he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. 
