The Seven Seals of Revelation: Have Any Been Opened Yet?

By Kelly Smith | FirstHorseman.World

I have had this conversation dozens of times with members of my own faith, and it almost always ends the same way. I ask one question, and within a few minutes the answer they were certain of falls apart. The question is simple. "What seal are we in right now? The sixth or the seventh?"

Almost everyone says the seventh. A few say the sixth. Hardly anyone says what I am about to show you is true. None of the seven seals has been opened yet. Not the seventh. Not the sixth. Not even the first.

That is a strong claim. So let me prove it from the text itself.

What people get wrong about the seals

The confidence usually comes from one place: Doctrine and Covenants 77. The reasoning goes like this. Each seal covers a thousand years. Four thousand years ran from Adam to Christ. Two thousand more have passed since. So we must be in the sixth or seventh thousand-year period, which means the sixth or seventh seal.

The math is fine. The conclusion is wrong. And the fastest way to see why is to open Revelation 6 and read what the sixth seal actually contains.

Read the sixth seal and ask one question

Here is John's description of the sixth seal. As you read it, ask yourself one thing: has this happened?

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; 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. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 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; 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: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Revelation 6:12–17

A great earthquake that moves every mountain and every island out of its place. The sun turning black for a sustained darkness, not an afternoon eclipse. The moon turning to blood. The stars of heaven falling to the earth. The sky rolling back like a scroll. The kings and the rich and the powerful of the whole earth fleeing into caves and begging the mountains to fall on them.

None of that has happened. Not one piece of it.

People reach for the 2017 and 2024 eclipses, or a historic earthquake, or a meteor shower. But those were local, brief, and ordinary by the standard of this passage. This is global. This is sustained. This is the kind of event no person on earth could miss or explain away. Isaiah saw the same scene and described the powerful throwing their gold and their idols to the moles and the bats in sheer terror (Isaiah 2:18–20). We have not seen it.

If the events of the sixth seal have not occurred, we cannot be in the seventh. And as it turns out, we are not in the sixth either.

What the sealed book actually is

This forces a better look at the revelation people lean on. Here is what Joseph Smith was actually shown:

Q. What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was sealed on the back with seven seals? A. We are to understand that it contains the revealed will, mysteries, and the works of God; the hidden things of his economy concerning this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence. Q. What are we to understand by the seven seals with which it was sealed? A. We are to understand that the first seal contains the things of the first thousand years, and the second also of the second thousand years, and so on until the seventh.

Doctrine and Covenants 77:6–7

Read it carefully. It tells us what is inside the book. The book contains the record of the earth's seven thousand years. It does not say that opening a seal is that thousand years, or that we live through the seals as we live through time. There is a difference between the contents of the sealed book and the act of opening its seals. That difference is the whole key.

The problem this solves

Look at the next verse, the one that trips everyone up:

Q. What time are the things spoken of in this chapter to be accomplished? A. They are to be accomplished in the sixth thousand years, or the opening of the sixth seal.

Doctrine and Covenants 77:10

If opening the sixth seal simply meant arriving at the sixth thousand-year period, the sixth seal would have opened around 1000 AD. So ask the obvious question. Did the events of Revelation 7 happen in 1000 AD? Were the 144,000 sealed then? Did a great multitude in white robes stand before the throne, having come out of great tribulation?

No. None of it happened in 1000 AD. It has not happened yet. The seal that contains those events has not been opened. The revelation is true. Our reading of it was wrong.

The seals are events, not centuries

Here is the understanding that makes every piece fit. The seven seals are not the seven thousand years. They are seven events that must take place before the sealed book can be opened.

Picture a chest sealed with seven locks. The treasure inside is the full record of the earth's history. The locks are not the treasure. They are what must be opened first. The seven seals work the same way. Each one, when Christ opens it, sets specific events loose in the world. Horsemen ride. Martyrs cry out. The heavens shake. These are not centuries quietly passing. They are sudden, unmistakable events that reach every person alive. This is the structure of Revelation that most readers miss.

Once you see the seals as events, Doctrine and Covenants 77:10 harmonizes perfectly. We are living in the sixth thousand-year period now. The seals are about to open. They were never the periods themselves.

Who opens the seals

One detail matters more than any other. No one opens the seals but Christ. In Revelation 5, John weeps because no one in heaven or on earth is found worthy to open the book. Then the Lamb steps forward, the only one worthy, and takes the scroll (Revelation 5:1–7). Every seal that opens, opens by the hand of Jesus Christ. This is His timeline, under His authority, for His purposes.

The seven seals in order

When the seals do open, they follow a pattern.

The first seal brings a white horse and a rider going forth conquering. White is the color of righteousness throughout scripture. This rider is a servant coming in the name of God, bearing real authority, who challenges the existing order and begins the work of establishing God's kingdom.

The second seal brings a red horse and takes peace from the earth. The third brings a black horse and famine. The fourth brings a pale horse, and death rides on it. The fifth reveals the martyrs under the altar, crying out for justice. The sixth brings the cosmic upheaval we already read, the signs no one can deny. The seventh opens to the seven trumpets of judgment, and ends with the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. This is not the final battle most expect, as I explain in this is not Armageddon.

The first four, the horsemen, ride to the four corners: north, south, east, and west. What the first seal sets in motion does not stay in one region. It crosses the whole earth.

Where we actually stand

So here is the answer to the question I started with. We are not in the seventh seal. We are not in the sixth. We are standing at the threshold of the first. We are in the preparation phase, the season just before the seals begin to open.

How do I know the first seal has not opened? Because the first horseman has not yet ridden. When he does, it will not be subtle, and it will not be a matter of interpretation. The whole world will see it. And once the first seal opens, the rest follow in order, each one building on the last.

The question worth asking is not "what seal are we in." It is "are we ready for what happens when the first one opens."

Continue the study

The setup: the scroll and the Lamb

• The Scroll and the Lamb: Who Is Worthy to Open the Seven Seals?

What the seals release

• What Happens When Each of the Seven Seals Is Opened?
• The Fifth Seal: Martyrs, White Robes, and the Command to Wait
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The bigger picture

• The Seven Seals and the Seven Trumpets: How They Fit Together
• The Hidden Structure of Revelation

Who is the first horseman?

• Is Donald Trump in Biblical Prophecy?

Questions and objections

• Common Questions About The First Horseman

The first seal opens to a white horse and a servant who has not yet ridden. So who is he? I make that case from Isaiah, Revelation, and the Book of Mormon here.

One note. This is my own study of scripture, not the official teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and not a substitute for the living prophets. I am not asking you to pray about my book. I am asking you to open the passages I cited, read them carefully, and take them to the Lord. Let His word speak for itself.