The following is an explanation of the "first seal" by author Joseph Atwill. Source link at the bottom of page to Atwill's original post.
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"the first seal of Revelation (Rev 6, 2) describes a rider on a white horse that is ‘given a crown’. Suetonius links to this by simply describing Domitian as riding a white horse in the passage where he is first called ‘Caesar’. (Domitian 2)
Once a reader recognizes these obvious linkages between the ‘first seal’ of Revelation and Suetonius’ history, however, a subtle connection to the passage that contains the ‘first seal’ of the Pauline letters becomes apparent. However to recognize this a reader must first recognize the Pauline letters contain seven ‘seals’ and question if they might have some relationship to the seven seals of Revelation. Only then will the message that Domitian has left for posterity will become comprehensible.
In the sentence that leads to his ‘white horse’ paragraph, Suetonius noted that Vespasian had made the comment that since Domitian had made so many appointments during the time he was ‘Caesar’ – the period after Vitellius was deposed but before Vespasian arrived to claim the throne - that he was surprised that Domitian had “not named my heir while he was at it”.
Vespasian’s comment concerning his ‘heir’ is Suetonius’ subtle typological point. The “succession” that Vespasian referred to certainly included the title given to him by Suetonius and the other Roman historians of the era; that of the ‘Christ’.
Suetonius recorded that on his deathbed Vespasian stated “I must be becoming a god” (Suetonius, Vespasian, 23). The historian also recorded that: “There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated for men coming from Judea to rule the world. This prediction, referring to the emperor of Rome - as afterwards appeared from the event- the people of Judea took to themselves.” (Suetonius, Vespasian 4) Suetonius did not record these concepts by accident. In fact, they form the real basis of the ‘succession’ that Domitian claimed with Revelation and the Pauline literature; with these works he usurped his brother Titus, and became Vespasian’s “heir” to the title of the ‘Christ’.
The authors of Revelation and the Pauline literature used a building block approach to their works. In this system a reader must first recognize obvious parallels between one of the seven seals of Revelation and a passage in Suetonius. In this case, that a rider on a white horse is given a crown. A reader must then use this understanding to see the more subtle connections between these linked passages and the passage that describe the first ‘seal’ in Paul’s letters.
Thus, Suetonius’ passage containing Vespasian’s comic remark about Domitian’s naming himself as his ‘heir’ is obviously linked by its ‘rider on a white horse who is given a crown’ to the first seal of Revelation, which presents the same concept. The next step is recognizing that the Pauline literature also has seven ‘seals’. Once a reader has understood this he or she is able to take the first step in comprehending the complex Pauline literature – compare the linked ‘first seal’ passages in Suetonius and Revelation with the first ‘seal’ passage in the Pauline literature.
So let us go through the process. In Romans 4:11 Paul describes the first of his seven seals and in the passage he describes how a Gentile can become the ‘heir to the world’.
“And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which [he had while still] uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,”
Though scholars have focused on trying to determine the meaning of Paul’s distinction in Romans 4 between ‘faith” and ‘works’, the real point to Paul’s argument is that the ‘uncircumcised’ can also be ‘righteous’ and that therefore a non-Jew (an uncircumcised Gentile) can become - as Paul specifically claimed - “heir to the world” (Rom 4:13). In other words, Paul is stating that it was not with Abraham’s ‘seed’ God established his covenant with, but the righteousness of Abraham’s ‘faith’.
What Paul is actually referring to in the passage that contains his first ‘seal’ is that a Gentile can replace Abraham and establish a ‘covenant’ with God. Notice that Paul’s point mirrors the position of the Imperial Cult and the Roman historians who saw Caesar as being able to replace a Jew as the Christ. Thus the ‘heir to the world’ that Paul describes is the same one that Vespasian mentioned when he stated that he was surprised that Domitian had not named his heir.
While the above connections of the ‘heir’ and the ‘first seal’ in these passages may seem trivial; the connection between the ‘seven seals’ of Revelation and the seven seals of Paul will become more solid as we move through them. What I am asking of the reader at this point is to understand the nature of the relationship. Revelation and the Pauline letters each have seven ‘seals’, though on their surface the passages that depict the seven seals do not seem related on their surface each set of ‘seals’ was linked to Suetonius’ history of Domitian and this three way linkage was designed to produce a meaning not apparent on the surface narration; that Domitian was the final ‘Christ’.
For clarification, the following diagram shows how the ‘first seal’ of Revelation is bridged to the ‘first seal’ of the Pauline literature by the concepts they share with the same passage in Suetonius:
Revelation; first seal, rider on white horse given a crown,
Suetonius; rider on white horse given a crown, heir to god
Paul; first seal, heir to god."
Joseph Atwill, author of Caesar's Messiah.
To read the entire post from Atwill, go to...
http://110559.aceboard.net/110559-971-4638-0-.htm
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