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After the Lamb was found worthy to break the seals and open the scroll in Chapter 5, He begins to open it by breaking the first seal, which revealed the horseman with a bow who was given a crown and the authority to conquer.
The second seal is broken and the second horseman is revealed, who has been given a sword and the authority to take peace from the earth.
The third seal is broken and the third horseman is revealed. This judgment is famine; the horseman has a pair of scales, with which he can weigh grains and food. Grains and food become costly, indicating that both are becoming increasingly scarce.
The fourth seal is broken and the final horseman is revealed: Death and his companion Hades. Death and Hades are the culmination of all the previous horsemen, because they have the combined authority of everything the other three horsemen were given license to do.
The fifth seal is broken, and this time the souls of the martyred speak and ask God how much longer they will have to wait for His judgement. God responds and tells them to rest while they wait for the remainder of the martyrs to join them.
Here, the sixth and penultimate scroll is broken, bringing about with it the fulfillment of a prophecy that the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. With this action, God has finally revealed Himself to all people.
Chapter 5 saw the search for someone who was worthy to break the seals and open the scroll, and the Lamb (Jesus) was found to be the only worthy one. Now, in Chapter 6, the Lamb opens the first six seals in the scroll. Each time a seal is broken, instead of the Lamb reading aloud the resulting scroll’s revealed contents, the story comes to life and is played out in the throne room.
Four horsemen come forth after the breaking of each of the first four seals. They are each armed with an object and have authority to carry out some kind of destruction or judgement on Earth. This culminates in the fourth horseman, Hades, who is accompanied by Death. At the fifth seal, the souls of the martyred cry out to God asking how much longer they are going to have to wait to see justice. Then the sixth seal fulfills the prophecy that the sky and moon will turn dark, and those on the earth hide from God’s wrath in response.
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