THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE
Revelation 6: 1-8
The Bible teaches that the world is headed not toward peace and unity, but toward a final, cataclysmic war, the battle of Armageddon (16). Until that climactic holocaust, things will continue to deteriorate as the world falls deeper and deeper into chaos, confusion and sin.
As the end approaches, wars will increase, crime will escalate, there will be economic upheavals, and unprecedented natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, famines, and diseases. All these calamities will mark the outpouring of God’s wrath on this fallen and rebellious world.
This old planet has seen times of cruel famines, catastrophes, dictatorships and many other causes of suffering, but the sixth chapter of Revelation introduces the most awesome period of time the world has ever know.
A seven year period, know as the Tribulation, or the time of Jacob’s Trouble, decreed by God is for shaking humanity loose from a false sense of security. God wants every human being to call on the name of Lord before the end of the age.
Everything in chapters 4 and 5 took place in heaven, the adoration of the Lamb around the heavenly throne. In chapter 6 John is still in heaven, though what he sees in heaven takes place on earth.
The time has come for God to intervene in human affairs, so judgment is given to the Son. The seals on the scroll are now to be opened.
The scroll represents the title deed to the earth. Unlike normal title deed, it does not contain a description of the property. Instead, it details how Jesus will execute His reclaiming of what is rightfully His.
Each of the scroll’s seven seals represent a specific divine judgment that will be poured out sequentially on the earth. The seals cover the entire period of the Tribulation. I think it is best to understand the first four seals as taking place during the first half of the Tribulation, the fifth seal covers the first half as well as going into the second half of the tribulation, and the last two seals take place during the last part of the tribulation.
Conquest – False peace
vs 1-2 Having received from his father the title deed to the earth the lamb, Jesus, opened the first of the seven seals. As each seal is opened in the vision, what is written on the scroll is not read, it is acted out.
Immediately John, heard one of the four living creatures saying with a powerful, shattering voice like thunder, ‘come’.
In response to the summons a white horse comes across John’s field of vision. The rider, rather than the horse, interested John. He held a bow, he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conquerer.
The bow was a long standing weapon of military conquest. The crown is the usual word for a victor’s wreath. Who is the rider?
There are many opinions such as the Antichrist, but the other three riders represent not individual persons but impersonal forces (war, famine and death), so it is best if we define the first rider as world peace or conquest.
So before the terrors of the Tribulation break loose, there will come a period of world peace. But it is a deceptive peace and it will lull the world in to a false sense of security. It will be followed by war, famine and death.
The Bible repeatedly warns of the deadly lure of false peace. While people are saying, Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
It may seem hard to believe that the world, hovering on the brink of final disaster, could be so totally deceived. Yet that’s exactly what happened on a smaller scale just before the outbreak of WWII.
Adolf Hitler spelled out in detail his plans for conquest in his book Mein Kampf, published more that ten years before WWII began. Yet the western allies, particularly France and Great Britain, persisted in believing that Hitler was a man of peace.
The rest is history, as he annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia and later invaded Poland. Only later did the world leaders pay attention to what Winston Churchill was saying, but by then it was to late to avoid WWII.
This first rider is conquest personified. He is bent on conquering even though he appears to be peaceable. He will conquer through diplomacy, cunning and deceit. Even as the final doom approaches, he will promise a golden age of peace and prosperity.
War
vs 3-4 The world’s excitement with peace and harmony will be rudely shattered as the second horse and rider appear on the scene. Just as WWII followed the deceptive peace promoted by Hitler, devastating wars will cover the earth.
As the second living creature said Come, a fiery red horse appears. The color of fire and blood depicts war. God’s judgment descends on the short lived false peace.
The rider of this horse has three descriptive phrases. He has power to take peace from the earth, he can make men slay each other, and he has a large sword.
Peace is taken from the world, killings will increase, violent slaughter will become comon place. Assassination, rebellion, revolt and massacre will be the order of the day.
The wars that begin with the opening of this seal will last for the brief time remaining before the coming of Jesus.
Famine
vs 5-6 The breaking of the third seal unleashed a black horse. As with the previous horses, the colors are like those in Zechariah 6. The color black is associated with famine in Lamentations (5:10) and is the logical consequence of worldwide war. Jesus predicted war and famines in Matthew 24. God has used famines as means of judgment in the past, but this will be the most devastating famine in all of human history.
The first rider had a bow, the second a sword, this one was holding a pair of scales. This means the weight of food is critically important. In times of scarcity, every kernel of grain counts.
Two kinds of food are mentioned. First is the essential one, grain. Wheat was preferred, and barley was cheaper and less desired.
A quart of wheat is barely enough to sustain one person for one day, while a denarius represents one day’s wages for an average worker (approximately $50, $6.25 per hour x 8). A days work will barely provide enough food for one, definately not enough for a family to live on. i.e. major inflation, gas prices, electricity!
Barley has a low nutritional value and is commonly used to feed livestock. One will be able to buy more of it but it is low quality food.
The other kind of food mentioned is oil and wine, not essential for life, but certainly an expected part of everyday diets in the first century. These are not to be destroyed. Marauding armies often found it easier to burn fields of ripe grain than to destroy vineyards and olive orchards.
This command is difficult to understand exactly. It may mean that even in time of famine the extras will be available to those who have the means to purchase them.
A deceptive peace followed by worldwide wars and the resultant devastating global famine will combine to escalate the universal chaos.
Death
vs 7-8 The fourth seal is opened and the fourth horse appears. The pale horse is the gray-green color of human corpses. The Greek word for pale is chloros from which we get the English words chlorophyll and chlorine. The color of the horse vividly describes the rider ... named Death.
Wherever the riders Conquest, Warfare, and Famine go, Death is sure to follow. There is a departure from the first three riders, Death has a companion following behind, named Hades.
Hades becomes as it were, the grave digger, burying the remains of Death’s victims.
The extent of the death and destruction brought on by war and famine is then quantified. Authority is given to Death and Hades to destroy a fourth of the population of earth. (Current population over 6 billion, so 1.5 billion deaths). That is approximately five times the current population of the United States.
Death results from those killed by the sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. The mention of wild beasts seems a bit puzzling, since most creatures dangerous to man are either extinct or isolated in unpopulated regions.
One explanation may be that the most deadly creature of all, the rat, thrives in all populated areas. Rats are responsible for uncounted millions of deaths through out history, both by eating food supplies and especially by spreading disease.
The most famous occurrence of rat-bourne disease was the Black Death, a fourteenth-century outbreak of bubonic plague that killed 1/4 to 1/3 of Europe’s population.
The first four seals clearly describe frightening judgments without parallel in human history. There is nothing that has happened since John had this vision that could be the fulfillment of these judgments.
At this time those who don’t know Jesus will realize that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebrews 10:31. There will be no escape for unbelievers from the terrors of the Tribulation and worse from Hell itself. Again, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Hebrews 2:3. Where will you spend eternity?
