The Antichrist and the Seven Seals: The Beginning of the Tribulation

Part 3 of 10 — End-Time Prophecy: A Chronological Bible Study

The Antichrist and the Seven Seals are central to understanding the beginning of the Tribulation and the unfolding events of Daniel’s final seven years. In this third part of our chronological study of End-Time prophecy, we examine the emergence of the Antichrist, the covenant described in Daniel 9:27, the opening of the Seven Seals, Gog’s invasion of Israel, and the possible sequence of events that will reshape the world’s political and religious powers.

The Beginning of Daniel’s Seventieth Week: The Antichrist and the Seven Seals

Daniel has established the framework for the final seven years, but he does not describe every event that will take place within them. To understand the beginning of that period, we must bring together the prophetic visions of Daniel, the teaching of Jesus, the writings of Paul, and the judgments revealed to John. Each contributes to the same unfolding picture. The objective is not to force every passage into an artificial sequence, but to identify what Scripture reveals, distinguish what it does not explicitly say, and follow the chronology as carefully as the evidence permits.

Within the pretribulational framework we are following, the Church has been gathered to Christ before the final week begins. The world, however, does not suddenly cease to function. Nations, governments, religious systems, economies, and human ambitions remain. Into that world emerges the ruler whom Scripture identifies through several descriptions: Daniel’s little horn, Paul’s man of lawlessness, and the beast of Revelation. His rise, the covenant described in Daniel 9:27, and the opening judgments of Revelation provide the first major developments in the final seven years.

The Coming Ruler in Daniel’s Visions

Long before John received the Revelation, Daniel was shown successive kingdoms and the emergence of a final arrogant ruler. Daniel 7 depicts four beasts representing kingdoms, with the fourth particularly terrifying. From this fourth beast arise ten horns, and among them another, smaller horn appears. This horn speaks arrogantly, subdues three kings, and eventually wages war against the saints (Daniel 7:7–8, 19–25). The vision does not describe merely a powerful politician. It portrays a ruler whose opposition to God becomes a defining feature of his reign.

Daniel 7:25 says that this ruler will speak against the Most High, wear down the saints, and intend to change times and law. The saints are given into his hand for “a time and times and half a time”, a prophetic expression commonly understood as three and a half years. This is especially significant when compared with the forty-two months granted to the beast in Revelation 13:5 and the 1,260 days found elsewhere in Revelation. These passages establish a recurring three-and-a-half-year period that becomes particularly important after the midpoint of the seventieth week.

Daniel 2 provides another perspective through Nebuchadnezzar’s image of successive kingdoms. The image culminates in feet composed of iron mixed with clay, followed by a stone that destroys the image and becomes a great mountain (Daniel 2:31–45). Daniel 7 presents the kingdoms as beasts; Daniel 2 presents them as parts of an image. These are overlapping visions, not two entirely separate sequences of world history. Both direct attention to the ultimate replacement of human dominion by the kingdom established by God.

The Man of Lawlessness and the Beast

Paul supplies another description of the coming ruler in 2 Thessalonians 2. He calls him the man of lawlessness and the son of destruction, describing one who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship. His rebellion reaches the point of taking his seat in the temple of God and presenting himself as God (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4). Paul also explains that this lawless one will be destroyed by the Lord Jesus at His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

John’s vision in Revelation 13 shows a beast rising from the sea, possessing ten horns and seven heads. The dragon gives this beast his power, throne, and great authority (Revelation 13:1–2). The imagery recalls Daniel’s beasts and ties the final ruler to the broader succession of rebellious kingdoms. John also describes a second beast, later called the false prophet, who exercises authority in support of the first beast and directs the inhabitants of the earth toward its worship (Revelation 13:11–18; 19:20).

These descriptions are complementary. Daniel emphasizes the ruler’s place among kingdoms, Paul exposes the nature of his rebellion, and Revelation reveals the satanic authority behind him and the religious coercion that accompanies his rule. The fullest expression of his power belongs to the latter half of the week. We should therefore distinguish his initial emergence from the later moment when he openly demands worship.

The Restrainer and the Revelation of the Lawless One

Before describing the lawless one’s destruction, Paul says that something presently restrains his revelation until the appointed time (2 Thessalonians 2:6–7). Within the pretribulational understanding, this restraint is often associated with the Holy Spirit’s present work through the Church. The removal of the restraining influence is then understood to precede the public unveiling of the Antichrist. This fits the broader expectation that the Rapture takes place before the final seven years.

However, Paul does not explicitly identify the restrainer by name. Nor does the passage say that the Holy Spirit ceases to be present on earth. That would be inconsistent with the salvation of people during the Tribulation, because no one is saved apart from the work of God. Revelation itself depicts people who belong to God, bear witness to Jesus, and remain faithful amid persecution (Revelation 7:9–14; 12:11, 17). The distinction is between the removal of restraint and the impossible notion that God’s Spirit has abandoned the world.

Paul also warns that the lawless one’s coming is accompanied by satanic power, signs, false wonders, and deception among those who reject the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12). Consequently, the coming ruler’s appeal cannot be measured merely by military strength or political influence. Deception is central to the biblical description of his rise.

D

The Covenant That Marks the Final Seven Years

Daniel 9:27 provides the central chronological marker: a coming ruler confirms a covenant with many for one week, and in the middle of that week causes sacrifice and offering to cease. Because the seventy weeks have been understood as seventy sets of seven years, the final week represents seven years. The midpoint therefore falls after three and a half years.

Daniel 9:27 (KJV, excerpt): “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease”

This covenant is commonly understood in the pretribulational interpretation as a political or security arrangement involving Israel, because the prophecy concerns Daniel’s people and Jerusalem and because the interruption of sacrifice points to worship at a sanctuary. The text, however, does not itself call the agreement a “peace treaty with Israel”. That description expresses an interpretation of its likely purpose and participants rather than the precise wording of the verse.

The distinction matters. Scripture tells us the covenant lasts for a week and that its provisions concerning sacrifice are overturned halfway through. It does not give us the names of the signatories, the terms of the agreement, or the exact political circumstances under which it is established. We can understand the prophetic significance of the covenant without inventing those details.

Nor should we assume that the ruler will immediately appear to the world in his most openly blasphemous form. Daniel’s description of a covenant and Revelation’s opening vision of conquest are consistent with an initial appearance of influence and authority that develops into coercion and outright rebellion. This helps explain why the first half of the Tribulation must be distinguished from the final three and a half years.

Gog, Magog, and the Coalition Against Israel: A Possible Turning Point

Ezekiel 38–39 describes a coalition of nations gathering against Israel under Gog, of the land of Magog. The coalition includes Persia, Cush, Put, Gomer, and Beth-togarmah (Ezekiel 38:2–6). The invasion is directed against Israel at a time when its people are described as dwelling securely (Ezekiel 38:8, 11, 14). Gog expects to seize spoil and plunder, but the invasion brings a direct response from God.

Ezekiel describes a great earthquake, confusion among the invading forces, pestilence, torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur (Ezekiel 38:18–23). The invading armies suffer a devastating defeat, and God declares that He will make His holy name known among Israel and the nations (Ezekiel 39:7, 21–22). The prophecy also describes seven months devoted to burying the dead and seven years during which Israel uses the weapons as fuel (Ezekiel 39:9–12). These details underscore the extraordinary scale and consequences of the event.

On the premise that Magog is Russia, the defeat of Gog’s coalition would represent the crippling of a major military power and its allies. Persia, identified with modern Iran, is explicitly named among the participants, along with other peoples associated with regions surrounding Israel. The significance would extend beyond the immediate battlefield: the defeat of such a coalition could dramatically change the balance of power among the nations.

Ezekiel 38:13 also records Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and their young lions questioning the invaders’ intentions: have they come to seize silver, gold, livestock, and goods? Their response is noteworthy because the passage describes their objection but does not describe them joining the battle. This detail leaves open the possibility that other nations remain politically or commercially influential while Gog’s coalition attacks Israel.

Now consider how this event might relate to the destruction of commercial Babylon discussed later in this study. If the United States is the political and commercial Babylon of Revelation 18, its sudden destruction would remove another major center of international power. In the particular sequence I am proposing, commercial Babylon could fall first, followed by Gog’s attack upon Israel and God’s defeat of the invading coalition. Together, these events could leave an enormous political, military, and economic vacuum. Scripture does not establish their order, so this remains a suggested sequence rather than a certainty.

Within the interpretation of Daniel 7 followed in this study, the final kingdom is associated with the Roman Empire and a future coalition represented by ten horns. The weakening of other major powers could provide an opportunity for a European-centered coalition to expand its influence and for the Antichrist to emerge as a leader promising security, stability, and renewed international order. This would not mean that Gog’s invasion or Babylon’s destruction creates the Antichrist; rather, those events could help explain the circumstances through which he consolidates the authority described in Daniel and Revelation.

The same upheaval could also help explain the possible relationship between the Antichrist and the religious woman of Revelation 17. Following the Rapture, the Roman Catholic Church could remain as a recognizable and influential religious institution to which many frightened people turn for reassurance. In this proposed interpretation, it could become the false religious manifestation of Babylon, lending credibility and popular support to a political leader promising to restore order. Once that leader has secured his authority, he could turn against the very religious system that helped elevate him, destroying its influence and demanding worship for himself, as Revelation 17:16–17 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 suggest when read together. This is a possible interpretation of the institution’s role, not a judgment about the salvation of individual Roman Catholics. We will return to these connections in our discussion of Mystery Babylon and the beast.

For our chronological study, the essential point is the possible relationship among three developments: the defeat of Gog’s coalition, the destruction of a dominant commercial power, and the rise of the Antichrist’s political authority. Ezekiel 38–39 establishes the invasion and God’s judgment upon it; Revelation 17–18 describes Babylon and its fall; and Daniel 7 describes the final kingdom and its ruler. Considering their combined consequences provides a plausible explanation of how the world could move toward the political and religious conditions described for the latter half of the Tribulation.

A Possible Chronological Sequence of Events

As we have seen, Revelation does not necessarily present every event in the order in which it will occur. Some passages provide additional details concerning events introduced elsewhere. With that in mind, I believe the following sequence offers a plausible explanation of how the destruction of commercial Babylon, Gog’s invasion of Israel, the rise of the Antichrist, and the destruction of religious Babylon could fit together within the unfolding events of the End Times.

Proposed sequence	Event	How the events could unfold
1	The Rapture of the Church	Christ gathers His Church, potentially producing unprecedented political, economic, and social upheaval throughout the world.
2	The Transformation of Commercial Babylon	The upheaval following the Rapture could accelerate the transformation of the United States into the commercial Babylon described in Revelation 18.
3	The Beginning of Daniel’s Seventieth Week	The coming ruler confirms a covenant with many, beginning the final seven-year period described in Daniel 9:27. Items 2 and 3 could occur simultaneously or in reverse order.
4	The Destruction of Commercial Babylon	During the first half of the Tribulation, commercial Babylon, possibly the United States, suffers the sudden and devastating destruction described in Revelation 18.
5	Gog’s Invasion of Israel	Following Babylon’s destruction, Gog and his coalition invade Israel. God intervenes and decisively defeats the invading armies (Ezekiel 38–39).
6	The Consolidation of the Antichrist’s Authority	With major world powers weakened or removed, a European-centered coalition gains influence, providing an opportunity for the Antichrist to consolidate his political authority.
7	The Influence of Religious Babylon	A powerful religious institution, possibly the Roman Catholic Church, helps legitimize the emerging ruler and encourages public confidence in his leadership.
8	The Destruction of Religious Babylon	Once the Antichrist has secured sufficient authority, he and the ten kings turn against the religious institution that helped elevate him, destroying its influence (Revelation 17:16–17).
9	The Abomination of Desolation	At the midpoint of the seven years, the Antichrist ends sacrifice, exalts himself above God, and demands worship, ushering in the Great Tribulation.

The Lamb Opens the Scroll

Revelation 4 and 5 shift our attention from earthly governments to heaven. John sees the throne of God and a scroll sealed with seven seals. No one is found worthy to open it until the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, appears as the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:1–10). The imagery identifies Jesus Christ as the One worthy to open the scroll. Whatever judgments follow, they do not occur outside His authority.

This heavenly scene is essential to understanding the Tribulation. The beast may rise, nations may rage, and Satan may deceive, but the unfolding judgments are not evidence that God has lost control. The Lamb opens the seals. The events on earth unfold beneath the sovereign authority of the One who redeemed His people by His blood.

Revelation 6 describes the opening of the first six seals. The seventh is opened in Revelation 8 and introduces the trumpet judgments. The seals are therefore not seven unrelated disasters. They form an ordered series within the larger vision, with the seventh seal leading directly into the next sequence.

The First Seal — The White Horse and Conquest

When the Lamb opens the first seal, John sees a white horse. Its rider carries a bow, receives a crown, and goes out conquering and to conquer (Revelation 6:1–2). Within the prophetic framework of our timeline, this rider represents the opening advance of the Antichrist or the conquering political power associated with his rise.

Several features support this reading within the broader sequence. The rider is followed by war, famine, and death; his appearance therefore introduces an escalating pattern of earthly upheaval. The crown is given to him, suggesting granted authority, and his mission is conquest. The white horse may also suggest an appearance of legitimacy that masks the destructive character of what follows. We should not confuse this rider with Christ on the white horse in Revelation 19:11–16, where the returning Lord is explicitly identified and defeats the beast.

Revelation 6 does not name the first rider “the Antichrist”. That identification comes from comparing the rider’s conquest with the coming ruler described elsewhere. It is a coherent reading of the combined passages, but it should not be presented as though John expressly supplies the rider’s name.

The Second Seal — The Red Horse and War

The second seal reveals a fiery red horse. Its rider is permitted to take peace from the earth so that people kill one another, and he receives a great sword (Revelation 6:3–4). The sequence moves from conquest to widespread violence. Whatever assurances of stability may accompany the rise of the coming ruler, the world does not enter a lasting era of peace.

Jesus described wars and rumors of wars among the signs that would precede the end (Matthew 24:6–7). His teaching also cautions that such disturbances do not, by themselves, identify the final moment. The connection between His discourse and Revelation lies in the pattern of escalating conflict, not in an assumption that every war in history is one of the seven seals.

The Third Seal — The Black Horse and Famine

The third rider appears on a black horse and holds a pair of scales. A voice announces severely inflated prices for basic grain while instructing that the oil and wine not be harmed (Revelation 6:5–6). The picture is one of scarcity and economic distress. Food remains available, but the cost of obtaining the essentials of life becomes crushing.

War frequently disrupts agriculture, transport, trade, and the ordinary means by which communities sustain themselves. Revelation does not provide a modern economic forecast or name particular currencies. It does show that the early judgments affect ordinary people at the most basic level: their ability to obtain food. The scales and grain prices make the suffering tangible rather than abstract.

The Fourth Seal — The Pale Horse and Death

The fourth horse is described as pale or sickly in color. Its rider is named Death, and Hades follows him. Authority is given to them over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, hunger, death, and the beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:7–8). This is the first of the seal judgments to specify a fraction of the earth affected.

The scale is staggering. Yet we must read the verse carefully. It describes authority over a fourth of the earth and names the means of death; it does not provide a precise future world-population figure. Numerical illustrations on a modern timeline may help readers appreciate the potential magnitude, but they cannot establish an exact death toll before these events occur.

Taken together, the first four seals are often called the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Their progression is understandable: conquest gives way to war, war contributes to scarcity, and the resulting destruction produces death on an immense scale. Revelation portrays these not as ordinary isolated hardships but as judgments unleashed when the Lamb opens the scroll.

The Fifth Seal — The Souls of the Martyrs

With the fifth seal, John’s view turns from events on earth to those who have been killed because of the word of God and the testimony they maintained (Revelation 6:9–11). Their appeal for justice receives an answer: they are given white robes and told to rest a little longer until the appointed number of their fellow servants who will also be killed is complete.

The fifth seal reminds us that the Tribulation is not only a period of war and natural catastrophe. It is also a time of religious persecution. People continue to bear witness to God, and some pay for that testimony with their lives. Within the pretribulational understanding, these martyrs include those who come to faith after the Church has been gathered to Christ. Their presence does not require the Church itself to remain on earth throughout the seven years.

The cry of the martyrs also establishes a moral dimension to the judgments. The world’s violence against God’s people is neither unnoticed nor forgotten. Divine judgment is not arbitrary retaliation; it is part of the final reckoning with evil and the vindication of those who remain faithful.

The Sixth Seal — Earthquake and Cosmic Upheaval

The sixth seal brings a great earthquake and extraordinary disturbances in the heavens. The sun becomes dark, the moon appears like blood, stars fall, and the sky is depicted as receding like a scroll (Revelation 6:12–14). People from every level of society hide in fear, recognizing the terror of the judgment that has come upon them.

Revelation 6:16–17 (KJV): “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

The language is unmistakably theological. The terrified inhabitants of the earth associate these events with the wrath of the Lamb. This is one reason the pretribulational interpretation does not restrict all divine wrath to the final bowl judgments. Revelation already depicts the opening seals as actions of the Lamb and describes the sixth seal in terms of His wrath.

The cosmic signs also resemble language used by the Old Testament prophets when describing the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 13:9–10; Joel 2:30–31) and by Jesus in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:29). Those connections are important, but they must be handled with care because prophetic passages can describe related events from different vantage points. Revelation itself will return to cosmic signs and heavenly scenes later in the book. Similar imagery does not automatically mean that every passage refers to a completely separate occurrence.

The Interlude — God’s Servants Sealed and a Multitude Redeemed

Before John describes the opening of the seventh seal, Revelation 7 interrupts the sequence with two visions. First, four angels are told to hold back harm until the servants of God have been sealed on their foreheads. John hears the number of those sealed: 144,000 from the tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:1–8). The text then names the tribes and assigns twelve thousand to each.

Within the literal Israel-centered understanding of the final week, the 144,000 are identified with Israel rather than treated as another name for the Church. Revelation does not provide their personal biographies or a complete account of their ministry at this point. It emphasizes that God knows and marks His servants even as judgment unfolds around them.

John next sees a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb. An elder identifies them as those who come out of the great tribulation and whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:9–17). Their salvation is not achieved by enduring suffering or by belonging to a particular nation. It rests upon the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

These two visions are not presented as two additional numbered seals. They answer an important question raised at the end of chapter 6: Who can stand? The answer is found in God’s preserving and saving work. Judgment is real, but so is grace. The appearance of the redeemed multitude also confirms that the gospel is not rendered powerless during the Tribulation.

The Seventh Seal — The Trumpet Judgments Are Introduced

When the Lamb opens the seventh seal, there is silence in heaven for about half an hour. John then sees seven angels standing before God, and seven trumpets are given to them (Revelation 8:1–2). Another angel offers incense with the prayers of the saints, and fire from the altar is cast upon the earth, accompanied by thunder, voices, lightning, and an earthquake (Revelation 8:3–5).

This sequence is important for the chronology of our study. The seventh seal does not simply conclude the preceding judgments and disappear. It introduces the seven trumpets. The opening of the scroll leads to another intensification of divine judgment, and the prayers of the saints are connected with the action taking place before God’s throne.

The timeline we are following places the seals and trumpets in the earlier portion of the seven-year period and the bowls in the latter portion. Revelation gives the order of the seals and trumpets, but it does not assign every one of them an exact date within the seven years. We can therefore follow the sequence revealed to John without pretending to know the day or month on which each judgment occurs.

How the Opening Events Fit Together

The beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week is marked by the covenant described in Daniel 9:27. The coming ruler rises within a world already prepared for deception and political upheaval. The Lamb opens the scroll, and the first four seals portray conquest, war, scarcity, and widespread death. The fifth reveals the persecution of faithful witnesses, while the sixth brings terrifying upheaval and a recognition of divine wrath. Revelation 7 then shows God marking His servants and saving a multitude from the nations before the seventh seal introduces the trumpet judgments.

This is the first major movement of the Tribulation narrative. It is not yet the Antichrist’s final, unrestricted reign, and we have not yet reached the decisive abomination of desolation at the midpoint. That distinction will become essential when we examine the two witnesses, the intensified trumpet judgments, the events surrounding Jerusalem and the temple, and the beast’s demand for worship.

The next portion of our study will continue with the seven trumpets and the prophetic developments leading toward the middle of the seventieth week. We will then examine the abomination of desolation, the beast’s persecution, and the events that define the Great Tribulation.