The Approaching Horsemen

Now we’ve reached the very heart of the Book of Revelation. We move from heaven’s splendor to hell’s sorrow on earth.

Matthew 24:21 “For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be.”

You might be surprised to know that the tribulation is mentioned over 50 times in the Old Testament. Such as…“The day of wrath”, “Jacob’s trouble”, “Time of trouble”, and the “Vengeance of the Lord”.

The Four Horsemen

Why the use of a horse? In Bible days, a horse symbolized providential movement, authority and aggression.

1. The White Horse: Militant Conquest. Vs. 1,2

Who is riding this white horse? Is it Jesus? No!!!

Revelation 19:1 is Jesus.

This is an imposter - the anti-Christ!!!

2 Thessalonians 2:7 “Satan working with all power, signs and lying wonders.”

Daniel 9:26 “The Prince that shall come…”

Notice 2 things:

· The bow without arrows.

He will conquer by diplomacy rather than war at this point. He will usher in a false peace that will fool the world and even Israel!

· A crown.

This signals that the anti-Christ will have temporary victory.

The anti-Christ will be on an all time high! His popularity ratings will nearly 100% at this point.

Understand that the first 3 1/2 years of the tribulation will be fairly calm as he gains power from every sector of society.

The U.N. as many believe is completely useless to our world. All it really does is feed people and they can’t even do that right. Look at the Sudan! But by this point in the tribulation, I think the U.N. will be a major player on the world’s stage with its humanistic and atheistic philosophies!

All this means that that nation in the future will become less independent and more dependent on this world body along with a strong European influence.

Proverbs 12:19 “Truth stands the test of time, lies are soon exposed.”

As Donald Barnhouse once said, “All is not gold that glitters. No amount of gaudy trappings can deceive the spiritual eye. Cloths do not make the man in spite of the proverb.”

2. The Red Horse: Murderous Conflict. Vs. 3,4

Not just symbolic of war!

“Kill” = is not meant only for battle but also violent killings of any kind, to a degree that we’ve never seen.

We have our drive by shooting and violent predators in every city. We have our ruthless dictators in the world and guiltless teens shooting up campuses across this country. We hear about civil wars and strife in many parts of the world. We hear in the news about America’s vicious molesters on every street corner.

Frightening how much killing goes on in just this country alone! Did you know that there are more murders in the U.S. than in any other country?

Now we have terrorism that can kill massive populations in just seconds with the threat of a biological attack. Anthrax, Ebola and Smallpox are weapons of mass destruction.

Just since World War 2 the world has experienced:

· 15 limited wars

· 38 political assignations

· 74 rebellions for independence

· 164 revolutions

Ezekiel 38:21 “…every man’s sword will be against his brother.”

Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars in the last day.”

2 Thessalonians 2:7 “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work…”

3. The Black Horse: Meager Crops. Vs. 5,6

Symbol of famine

Matthew 24: 7

Inflation at it’s highest! Notice the balances in the hand meaning the scarcity of food.

“Denarius” = one day’s wage

The problem is a day’s wage will buy about a loaf of bread. Barley is the cheapest form of bread on can buy at that!

“Do not damage the oil and the wine” = the affect on even the rich.

Watch this… From the beginning of time to 1850 there were about one billion people that had populated the earth. It took less than 80 years to pass the 2 billion mark in 1930 and only 30 years to reach 3 billion people, 4 billion in 1976, 5 billion by 1989 and almost 7 billion people today.

The U.N. says that by 2025 there will be 8.7 billion people on the planet!

Matthew 24:19 “Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days.”

David Jeremiah says, “Compare the world’s resources to the gas tank on your car and we have passed the half-full point and rapidly moving towards empty.”

4. The Pale Horse: Manifold Carnage. Vs. 7,8

Death!

This color is like a corpses color. In fact the word here in Greek is “Chloros” where we get our word… “Clorox”

The death rate by this point in the tribulation will be staggering. It will be over 1 and a half billion people dead.