Busy week? Me too. LDS Living is here to catch you up and get you ready for discussions on Sunday. Here’s a nugget of wisdom from this week’s Come, Follow Me study of Revelation 6-14.
When people think about the Revelation of John, these are the chapters that will first come to mind. There is so much symbolism here to analyze and it can make for such an interesting gospel discussion.
Seven Seals
In our modern study of the scriptures, there are so many study helps to guide you through some of these heavy, symbolic chapters. Online articles and podcasts are great, there are also Church institute manuals and words of the modern-day prophets. In the case of the Book of Revelation, we can even reference revelations found in Doctrine and Covenants 77 for a unique question-and-answer session on the interpretation of some of these symbols.
Instead of trying to uncover what every symbol in Revelation 6 means, the Sunday on Monday podcast this week went beyond the imagery and discussed the impact of Christ in our lives.
For example, each seal loosely represents a dispensation of time. The red horse in the second seal can mean the destruction and death that surrounded Noah’s time, but red also commonly refers in scripture to the blood of Christ. So there was calamity, but only because people rejected the blood and atonement of Jesus Christ.
In their discussion, Tammy and Professor Jan J. Martin broke down where Christ is found in each seal and each era of time through the history of the world, but it was something Dr. Martin said toward the end of the conversation that will stay with me this week: “Jesus is working in our seal.”
Once we have found Christ through all the generations of prophets and prophesy, we can then open our eyes to how He works today. Our modern era is meant to be a preparatory period for the final seal, and it doesn’t matter how soon or far away we are from that seal being broken, Christ works in every seal—including this one.
Looking back at the eras of previous prophets can teach us, and looking forward to what is to come can prepare us. But every day we have to live in the present. So don’t get too bogged down with the foreboding of these middle chapters of Revelation and instead, study how Christ has always been there in every dark time. And He is there for you, too.
So that was my takeaway this week. To hear more takeaways from other Latter-day Saints on this block of scripture, join our study group on Facebook and Instagram.
Sunday on Monday is a Come, Follow Me podcast hosted by Tammy Uzelac Hall that is released every Monday to guide you through the scripture readings for the week. This week covers Revelation 6-14. Our podcast guest this week was Professor Jan Martin. You can listen to full episodes on Deseret Bookshelf Plus and find out more at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday.
