I got behind so I'm cranking now. We are going to look at the breaking of the seals and the first thing we see are the four Apocalyptic Horsemen. Many know about these four even if they don't know the book of Revelation. Revelation 6:1-8 says:
1Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
3When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
5When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
7When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
Throughout this disturbing event of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse with the breaking of the first four seals of the scroll, we read and understand that God is in control. He's allowing this to happen. We see repeatedly the phrase "was given to him." This means to hand over. God is giving the next horseman the ability to do what is about to happen. These horsemen are doing the business of God. Only He knows what's written on the scroll that He's unrolling and unsealing.
As we read about the breaking of the seals we see a close relationship here with Matthew 24:3-7. We see the first four seals in this section of Matthew. Keep this passage in mind as we go thru this seciton in Revelation. Compare the two.
3Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5“For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8“All these are the beginning of sorrows.
As we look at V1 we see John staring at the Lamb and what He was about to do. There's no question as to who was going to open this scroll. We already covered that in the last chapter. He hears thunder. Again, nothing quiet here. What is this thunder? Is it God ordering the rider to come? Some believe this is Christ on this first horse but it makes no sense. Jesus is opening the seal. Will He come out on the horse too?
The rider of the horse has a weapon. It's a bow. This is a common weapon used by the enemy. Christ uses the sword. This crown is one of victory not royalty and is different than Revelation 19. A command is given and one is going to carry this out as he is commanded to do.
The rider on this white horse is the Anti-Christ. God is allowing the Anti Christ to do his work on the earth. He's being released to go ahead and do his thing. The white is symbolic for conquest and victory. Christ is not going to conquer the world by force. At first his method of conquest does not seem to include open warfare since peace is not remeoved from the earth until the second seal is opened. He's going to come as one in peace to deceive the masses. He's going to lull them to sleep first. He has a bow, but no arrows. He will come in peace, but it will be a false peace. Beware.
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie. 2 Thess 2:9-11
For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 1 Thess 5:3
Next we see the second seal is open. Another horse but of a different color. This is blood red and is a horse of war. Now men will bring judgment on themselves with the sword. There will be widespread wars like never before. Just as Jesus had told his disciples back in Matthew 24 there will be many wars but like never before.
The third seal is now opened. This horse is black and represents famine and disease. Famine always follows war. Instead of tending their plows the men are too busy fighting for their lives and the lives of their families. Their plowshares are turned to spears and their pruning hooks to swords. Only when the real Christ comes again will the spears be turned to plowshares and the swords to pruning hooks. How many know that this is written on the UN building in New York?
We see a pair of balances in the rider's hand. Wheat is representative of a staple and a denarius or a penny represents one day's work. Barley is used to stretch wheat. It's a cheaper grain. Many thoughts here on the oil and wine. Some believe that the rich will not be hurt during this time. They will not be as affected as the common man. Some believe that this means there will be a limit on this famine. That this is just a toning down of the intensity for now. The heat will be turned up as this all gets played out.
Now we have the fourth seal broken. We see a pale horse. It's a yellowish green; corpse like. This is the only horse where the rider is named. His name is death. Death and Hades are his common companions. Death always follows close by famine.
We see here that one fourth of the earth's population will die during this time. Now something to think about. During WWI something like 10 million died. During WWII about 22 million died.
Right now we have about 6.6 billion people alive all over the world. If we take one fourth of this we end up with 1.65 billion dead. Many more than WWII even. We know Christ said that this will be unlike any other time.
For those who believe Revelation was already fulfilled during 70AD think about the numbers. Do the math. The historians during Jesus day figured there were about 200 million alive. If you take the one fourth of that number that would make about 50 million dead but using the highest estimate given at the time only 1.3 million died during Nero's time. This would be between 67-70 AD. Not even close to the one fourth spoken of here in Revelation. Do the math. It's very short of what scripture says here.
There's no way Revelation has been fulfilled from this angle. This is all still to come.
What this all means is there will be chaos on earth like never before. We don't know when these horsemen are coming. Quite a few years ago Billy Graham wrote a book about these horsemen. I think the book was called "The Horsemen are Coming" or something to that effect. They are about to be unleashed anytime. It could be tonight or tomorrow.
"repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. " Matthew 4:17b
Repent or face the wrath of the Lamb. There's only two choices. This chapter begins the wrath of God concluding in Chapter 19. It's not going to be like anything we've every experienced on earth before. The only thing even remotely comparable would be the flood.
1But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thess 5:1-11