The Four Horsemen
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
(Matthew 28:19-20)
And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house,
there abide till ye depart from that place.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence,
shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them.
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
(Mark 6:10-12)
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
Introduction – The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse arrive to end the world
The Bible prophesies about four great spirits which control the actions of human beings, leaders of governments and ultimately, even the governments of the world themselves. One of these spirits will become the dominating force in the program of the future world dictator of the coming one-world government.
They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Apocalypse
The Greek name for the Book Of Revelation from the Greek word to disclose or predict the end of the world
Scripture – The first 4 of 7 seals
Rev 6:1 And 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.
Rev 6:2 And 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.
Rev 6:3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:4 And 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.
Rev 6:5 And 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.
Rev 6:6 And 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.
Rev 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:8 And 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.
In Revelation chapter 4 we see God seated on the throne in heaven, it is he who is sovereign over earthly events.
We should notice first that only the Lamb (Jesus) is able to take the scroll from God and to break the seals and reveal its contents. Each of the four riders is summoned onto human history by one of the heavenly living creatures.
Notice the phase ‘he was given a crown’, ‘was given power’, ‘do not damage the oil and the wine’, ‘were given power over’, all of this indicates that the four riders are under the sovereignty of God.
Even if we do not understand earthly events, the message of Revelation is that God is sovereign from the start to the finish. Then his enemies will be defeated and punished and his saints vindicated and rewarded. Followed by a new earth with no more death or mourning or crying or pain.
What do these horses represent?
The prophecy given to John in Revelation 6, was also given to Zechariah, as found in Zechariah 6. In Zechariah, God reveals to us that these horses and their riders symbolize spirits which go forth into the earth. The color of each of these horses is highly significant as we shall soon see.
The white horse – Conquering – Jesus or The Holy Spirit
White is used as a symbol of peace. The predominant message of the Roman Catholic Church is the message of peace. Furthermore, Catholic policy dictates that the pope dress in white. His helicopter, popemobile, and jet airplane are all white. If he had a horse, what color do you suppose it would be?
To sum up the first rider and his relationship to the other seals, there are four views:
a. The first rider represents the lust for conquest and as such forms an integral part of the four horsemen who are all evil and are summed up by the fourth horsemen. Conquest brings with it war, famine and death. However the colour white is usually associated with good not evil, but it can indicate victory (Lenski), the rider wears the victory crown.
b. A step further is to say that the rider is the antichrist who brings havoc and misery on the world as indicated by the second, third and fourth horsemen, the fifth seal shows the resultant persecution of Christians by the antichrist followed by the sixth seal representing the end when Christ returns.
c. The first horsemen is Christ conquering by the power of the gospel and the other seals 2 to 5 represent various forms of persecution resulting from the proclamation of the gospel of the first seal. It is perhaps appropriate that Jesus who is the beginning and the end should appear on a white horse at both the beginning and end of the visions about the future.
d. The first rider is the word of God (see Lenski), this again harmonises with the rider on the white horse in chapter 19 whose name is the Word of God and also with Matthew 24:14 and the Matthew 24 model for the interpretation of all the trumpets (see comments after 6:8). The gospel is preached and during the same time there is war, famine and death from various causes. This view makes the best sense in terms of the purpose of Revelation because persecution arises because of the word of God as indicated by the martyrs of the fifth seal who had been slain because of the word of God (5:9). Consider the two witnesses who are slain because they prophesy (11:7) and those beheaded because of the word of God (20:4). In Isa 49:2 the prophet Isaiah compares himself to a polished arrow concealed in the Lords quiver which in the context of the verse, which also refers to his mouth as a sharpened sword, must be the word of God. Consider that the armies of the Lord, who are the saints (see 17:14), as well as Christ, also ride white horses (19:14) and it is through these that the gospel is preached. Finally consider that the gospel also goes throughout the earth in the four directions of the compass just as do war, famine and death.
The red horse – War
There is an international spirit in the earth today known as the “red” power. Nations who embrace Communism or Socialism are known as red nations. Communist Soviets were commonly called “Reds,” while China is also known as “Red China.”
The black horse – Famine
The rider on the black horse in Revelation 6:5 had a pair of balances in his hand. Balances are a symbol of trade or commerce. What international spirit in the world embodies the message of commerce? Capitalism, of course! In political and news circles, democracy and capitalism are sometimes referred to as the “black power.”
The pale horse – Death & Hades
The Bible plainly states that the name of the one who sat on the pale horse was “Death”, and “Hell” followed with him.
The forth horse summarises the first three and is distinctly evil, the first horse signifies the lust for conquest which is commonly the cause of war, which is the next seal and famine (third seal), the fourth seal describes death by sword, famine, plague and wild beasts.
Alternate Interpretation – Pestilence, Famine, War and Death
This interpretation rearranges the order in which the horsemen arrive to end the world, and a slight change to their personas. Pestilence is portrayed as a distinct entity, separate from Famine, and takes Conquest’s normal place in the lineup.
The first horseman to appear is Pestilence, who rides upon a sickly, decaying horse. Pestilence causes the decay and imminent destruction of the worlds crops and wildlife.
In the wake of Pestilence comes Famine, a large and portly rider riding upon a thin and sickly horse, symbolizing gluttony and the lack of food.
In the wake of Famine, due to immense fighting over the remaining food supplies, is War. War rides upon a red horse and wields a tremendous sword which he uses to slay the millions in his path.
And in the wake of War, comes the black rider, Death. His horse is jet black. He is followed by Hades and carries the remaining souls to their final destinations.
Summary of the signs that would make most people think that the apocalyptic clock is ticking
There are some general conditions in the late twentieth century– I wouldn’t necessarily call them signs of the end–but they have provided a context through which one could read the Book of Revelation more literally.
For example, the Book of Revelation talks about the massive and sudden destruction of millions of people. Well, this couldn’t have been done in the past by ancient means of warfare, swords and arrows and so forth, and yet now it could be.
The Book of Revelation presupposes some kind of world wide communication system. For example, when the martyrs, the two witnesses, are killed in chapter 11 of Revelation, it says the whole world will gaze at their dead bodies. I’ve seen many interpreters quote that and say, “Well, see this is CNN and Global News networks and satellite TV.”. …
I think most prophetic interpreters of the Book of Revelation who read it literally and expect it to be talking about the near future, would point to the following things: the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb, which make mass destruction capable on the levels that you read in this book, a death count that high. Asteroids potentially hitting the earth, there’s a lot of attention now about that. A geo-political power or force that could actually control the entire world with global communications.
However, the things that are supposed to happen, by a literal reading of the book, that would really bring it on, are not on the horizon. I think you could say a stage has been set, as these interpreters would understand the world scene. That is, Israel does exist. The Israelis do control Jerusalem. Therefore, there’s the possibility of other things happening.
In terms of what’s supposed to happen, I think it’s mainly three things–none of which have happened.
There has to be a third Temple built in Jerusalem. There has to be a military ruler coming from the north, perhaps from Europe, to invade the Middle East, and enforce a world-wide system of religion on the world. That’s certainly not happened. And there’s got to be these two prophetic figures showing up, speaking from God’s side, that would cause all sorts of droughts and plagues to come up on the world as reported in the Bible from the time of Moses and Elijah.
None of those things have happened, and until those things happen, you really don’t get going with interpretation. It’s as if you’re waiting and expecting and wondering–could these things happen? But nothing’s moving on the stage you might say. It’s all just in place, but the drama hasn’t really begun. …