Rev.# 21~6:1-8 THE 4 HORSES AND RIDERS 9-5-09
We’re here in chapter 6: of the Revelation, the 1st 8 verses are telling us about 4 horses and their riders, and let me say again that these horses and riders are not real, they are symbolic as to what is going to take place on the earth just after the rapture takes place.
Let me reminds us that the One opening theses seals is the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ as He was the only One found worthy to do so back in chapter 5:
Matthew 24: is a good outline of the tribulation as Jesus is talking to His disciples.
Matthew 24: 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Ø Listen as I read these 8 verses in chapter 6:
1And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. 2And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Without going back into verses 1&2 at length as we’ve already done so, just let me say that this is talking about the Antichrist, the great political leader that will suddenly come on the scene, I personally think it to be very possible that he’s in the world today and that we may have already saw him, although he’ll not be revealed until the True church is gone.
He will bring a false peace as he signs an agreement with Israel that he will protect them for 7 years, but in the middle of the 7 years he breaks his promise.
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Ø THE RED HORSE AND ITS RIDER.
Matt. 24: 6-8And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows.
3And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
If we think its dangerous today, and it is, at that that people will be killing each other as the devil is having a hey day, souls will be dropping off into hell on a scale as never before seen.
Last time we read from Ezekiel 38-39 how that at the middle of the 7 years, God brings Russia and her allies into the mountains of Israel to be massacred, God does all the destroying, not any out side help from any military is involved, God destroys 5/6 of that coalition.
And from that point on until the return of Christ at the battle of Armageddon in chapter 19: will be war and destruction and untold horror on the earth dwellers, the pain and horror will increase with each passing day as the Trumpet and Vial judgments are being opened.
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Ø NEXT COMES THE BLACK HORSE AND ITS RIDER.
Matt. 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
5And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Famine always follows war. Food rationing of the strictest will be enforced.
The BLACK HORSE depicts “famine and starvation” the war and killing brought on by the red horse and rider causes normal ways of life to become none existent.
A workingman will be unable to support his family in that day.
Lamentations 4:8–9 Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick. They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
The third judgment, and an aftermath of war brings famine to the world. The “black horse” speaks of suffering and death and the “balances” of the careful rationing of food because of its scarcity.
A penny speaks of a day’s wages.
The denarius, was a Roman coin, in ancient times it was a normal day’s wage. In New Testament times this coin would buy eight quarts of wheat, or eight measures (one measure equals about one quart) or 24 quarts of barley.
Wheat was the better grain and barley was normally used only for livestock except in times of scarcity.
But during the Tribulation, one denarius (a full day’s wage) [a penny] will buy only one measure (about one meal) of wheat, or three meals of barley with nothing left. And this means the larger the family, the worse it will be.
-- and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
The oil and the wine are luxuries that are enjoyed by the rich. Oil is to do with the luxuries of life.
The wine evidently is a reference to the alcoholic drinks at that time. There’ll not be enough foodstuffs, not enough barley for food, but there will be enough barley to make strong drink, and the rich are the ones who will get it.
The wealthy will apparently not be touched at the first, but ultimately they will undergo suffering as well
oil and the wine?
They are luxuries for the rich.
Ps 104:15 And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine,
Prov 21:17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.
Ø Listen as I read verses vs. 5-6 once again.
5And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Remember these balances, like the black horse, suggest scarcity to the extent of famine. Beating plowshares into swords produced no food; it only destroyed the men who produce the food and prevented the soil from being tilled.
Notice; “Black” follows “red”, famine follows war, and famine is symbolized in the Bible by the color “black”. Jesus said in Matt. 24: that there shall be wars and rumors of wars, and then He said and there shall be famines.
The extent of the famine during the tribulation is told by what John saw in the prophetic vision.
A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny.
Here the word measure is used to denote the amount required to feed a man for one day. The “penny” (denarius) was the daily wage of a laborer at that time. Think of a man working a full day and only able to buy enough food to keep him alive, and then having to divide that food with his family.
Remember “The oil and the wine” are the possessions of the few rich, but soon their riches will be gone, “The oil and the wine” are not rationed out to the famine stricken. Remember a vast number of the work forces were raptured away.
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Ø NEXT COMES THE PALE HORSE AND ITS RIDER.
4th seal vs. 7-8
7And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Because of war and famine comes another horse, even more terrible in its symbolic meaning. It is pale, meaning’ livid and corpselike.
The rider is called Death, the result of war and famine.
We are told the name of this horse’s rider is death and that Hell, or Hades follows. “Death” refers to physical death, not annihilation—only the physical body is claimed. “HELL, OR Hades” refers to the underworld, the prison and temporary ABODE of the souls of unbelievers between their death and the time of the Great White Throne Judgment. This is the compartment called of torments according to Luke 16:23.
The fourth living creature is given divine authority to send him forth. Under the three previous seals, a false peace was followed by war and famine in the earth.
There have been wars, famines, and death-dealing plagues in the past, but nothing comparable to this which is still future.
Its fury is the result of the killing one-fourth of the earth’s population. -According to present figures and estimations this is about 800,000,000 people, This is the result of the on-going judgments.
God foretold of these 4 judgments in Ezekiel 14: 21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
Ø The emphasis of this judgment is death on a massive scale.
Four powers of death are mentioned:
(a) The sword refers to death by war and perhaps by the cruelty of the Antichrist and his godless system under the domination of Satan.
(b) Famine, anticipates death on an even greater scale by starvation.
(c) Pestilence speaks of death by disease and plagues.
(d) Wild beasts, possible anticipates the fact that people will be weak, unprotected and easy prey for wild animals.
The unprecedented character of the Tribulation is now beginning to show itself.
The fourth rider is given the name Death, the final claimant of the body. Hell rides with him to gather the souls of the victims. Hell, the abode of the UNregenerated souls that leave the body at death.
Hell is where the departed spirits of the lost abide between death and their resurrection for the white throne judgment of the lost in Rev. 20:11.
Hell is temporary, in contrast to the lake of fire, which is forever (Revelation 20:13-14).
