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The Four Horsemen
Revelation 6: 1-17
This passage is not as difficult as it first appears. Remember that we are dealing with symbolism related to the times of the Old Covenant and applied in terms of the New Covenant in Christ. As the Lamb opens the first four seals the living creatures call forth distinctive riders. "Be going" is how one commentator translates the word that we see as "Come" in the NIV. These "Comings" are not periods of time, but all four are active in sequence.
The image is rather like Alvin Toffler's wave theory of economics from his popular book The Third Wave. In this theory there have been three waves of economic change since the dawn of human history.
His first wave is called "The Agricultural Revolution" where early man first learned to herd animals and plant seeds. This revolution had a profound impact upon society and allowed men to settle down and possess the land instead of wandering continuously after wild game.
The second wave is called "The Industrial Revolution" where mankind learned to produce machinery to create masses of material goods through the inventions of technology. This revolution is only a couple hundred years old and its impact is still spreading around the world.
The third wave is called "The Electronic Revolution" where contemporary men are still wrestling with the computing of mass information and electronic intelligence! Just assuredly as Rumania was seized with the help of a Fortress Television Station, so too is all of life being shaped and challenged in the ongoing rush of electronic technology.
In these three waves there are no clear cut distinctions where one begins and another ends. Why there are still areas of the world where the first wave has yet to arrive. Even in our own country these three waves have been working side by side since we were born.
My rural family added electricity, running water and mechanization during the course of my childhood. One of our neighbors never did make the transition. He drove a buggy until his death in the early fifties! I learned to drive a team of horses long before I got my hands upon a tractor. In time we all have made our way into the mechanical world. And not only that, in the last five years, I have even made the transition to the computer era! In my life then, I have experienced all three of these economic waves. In the same way, let us look upon the waves of horsemen who are unsealed by the hand of the Lamb of God.
As we look at these waves of Horsemen we need to appreciate that there was an immediate lesson for those to whom John is writing as well as a spiritual lesson for us today.
First let us look at the immediate historic context of John's era in the middle east. If we assume that John's Revelation was written before the reign of Nero we may then see the coming literal splashing of these titanic horsemen upon the events of history in the first century of our millennic era. In this context we will focus upon the last three horsemen only.
The second horseman in verses three and four is given power to disrupt the peace. The peace in question would be the famed Pax Romana which historically was the longest known period of peace in human history! One of the early Church fathers Origen wrote about the abundance of peace that began with the birth of Jesus Christ. This period of peace had been inaugurated by Caesar Augustus at the Ludi Saeculares in 17 BC. This Pax Romana was celebrated across the Empire by many tribes and nations as the greatest of all gifts. It was a final end to war. A contemporary dream that is growing stronger even in our own year 1990!
Yet, our text here in Revelation 6: 3-4 emphasizes the disruption of that peace. From historical records we know that the Pax Romana was violently disrupted in the decade of the sixties in the first century at the time of Nero. And how will that peace be disrupted? Verse 4 also indicates civil war in the land. Both in Rome and in Jerusalem there were utterly violent slayings. The historian Josephus insists that the carnage of civil strife in Israel brought more destruction than that committed upon the Jews by the Romans.
The third horseman will be unleashed into the arena of history. This horseman brings economic hardship. A days wages can buy wheat for a worker only! Or it can purchase the coarser barley to feed his family. Food is available, even the luxuries of oil and wine, but at a terrible price! the historian Josephus notes that the eventual famine in Palestine was devastating. Even families quarreled over their daily food.
The fourth horseman to follow will be given power to kill by sword, famine, plague and wild beasts. These four means of death were very much in vogue in this period of time. War certainly brings famine and plague in its train. And in addition many thousands of men captured during the Jewish Revolt perished in the inaugural games held at the Colosseum, after having labored for years to build it. Thus we see that John's revelation has an immediate context for his hearers!
Second, let us look at the opening of this chapter from the perspective of this side of the actual events. The meaning of these four waves of horsemen involves the reaction of the world to the coming of Jesus Christ.
In this sense then, the rider on the white horse is our Lord Jesus Christ. The rider of the red horse represents slaughter. The rider of the black horse represents economic hardship and poverty. The rider on the pale horse represents Death. This view is in harmony with the earlier chapters. Remember that in the first three chapters we saw the Christ-indwelt Church shining in the midst of the world. Whenever Christ appears Satan becomes busy: trials are in store for God's children.
Not all commentators accept the rider on the white horse as the Christ. However, white is the proper color and a crown has been given. Also whenever we read the word "conquer" in this book it refers to Christ in all but two places. Finally this interpretation is consistent with Chapter Nineteen where we are definitely told who the rider in that passage is. Jesus Christ is the one who has conquered, is conquering, and shall conquer.
This Jesus came to our world in one of the few eras of general peace. Well did the Angels sing in that day of peace on earth goodwill toward men! And yet that peace was quickly disrupted just as the peace of the Gospel is challenged in individual lives today. The symbolism here of riders two and three describes what happens to believers because they remain loyal to the Lord. The fourth rider shows what God's children experience along with the rest of the world.
The red horseman represents religious persecution. This view is plausible because he follows the first. Also the short sword has the technical name of machaira which strictly signifies the sacrificial knife. We believers at this time were being persecuted, some even to death. We have only to think of Stephen, Paul, Publius and Polycarp and other martyrs in the long history of the Church. This second rider has appeared in every century where the Church has been faithful. His victims are those to be found under the altar later in this chapter.
The black horseman represents the economic hardship of believers under persecution. Life is not impossible, but because of persecution and discrimination they barely have the daily bread of life. While these riders serve the wrath of Satan directed against Christ and Church, their activities in no way interrupt the conquest of the world by our Lord. In fact, all their miserable actions are turned against Satan and the cause of Christ is advanced in the strengthening of His Church in the midst of adversity. We have only to look to Communist countries to find incredibly strong Churches in our time. Throughout all our mellenic era the Church is persecuted by these horsemen.
But these are not the only trials. The fourth rider brings the woes that afflict all mankind. The word pale in verse eight implies a livid or sickly gruesome color symbolic of disease and death. The pale rider is very definitely limited. Yet his killing is very clearly acts of war. The words for kill and sword are different from the second rider. And both words here have a military sense. Yet the four woes here are used for the sanctification of Christ's Church and the extension of His kingdom.
We turn now to the martyrs under the altar in verses nine to eleven. Do not forget that what John sees is not heaven or the universe itself but a symbolic vision. In the Old Testament the blood of slaughtered animals was poured out at the base of the altar. Since life was in the blood this image has the souls of those slain by the second rider's sword crying out for God to finally bring an end to history. It is not personal retribution they desire as much as it is their intense desire for the final coming of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom.
These souls are promised that the Day is coming, but not yet. God has to complete His program. In the meantime the martyrs are given robes of white and the assurance that their prayers are heard. Accordingly, the sixth seal in verses twelve to seventeen introduce the final judgment day. The great catastrophe at the end of this age is pictured under the twofold symbolism of a crashing universe and a thoroughly frightened human race.
Terror here refers, of course, only to the wicked. It may very well be that believers will be few in number on the earth in that great Day of the Lord!
This sixth seal affects six objects of creation and six classes of men. We see the end of creation here as we know it. The earth quakes, the sun burns out and the moon reflects the last red glow in of sunly ashes. Even the stars fall as the sky rolls up like a scroll. The mountains and islands are even removed. This symbol taken as a whole teaches one lesson, namely that the final and complete pouring out of God's righteous wrath upon a rebellious world will be terrible indeed!
Every human is affected. First there are the kings, dictators and presidents who rule the world. Second, the princes, assistants and vice-presidents who give their allegiance to the worldly powers. Third are the generals and government officials. Fourth are the rich money magnates. Fifth are the mighty men of bureaucracy who wield their power over the peoples. And last the slaves and free men who represent the common man.
The entire godless world is seized with sudden fear. They are in terror, and they flee for hiding places that will blot out the face of Him who is coming to judge the earth and all the peoples therein. Look how quickly communism toppled in Rumania. Look at the mousey scurryings of Noriega and Ceausescu seeking a safe place to hide!
This chapter ends with a question. "For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" Let us turn to Isaiah 54: 10 to see. "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
If you are saved by the merciful compassion of our God, then this passage should have no terror for you. John here is using apocalyptic imagery to reassure the saints of his era and to give them the certainty that their God is over all. God is indeed bringing His purposes to pass, and He will do so though it means that this world order be swept away in the passing of our physical universe. God's Covenant in salvation is indeed forever and the assurance of our God in Christ may not be shaken in any worldly events. May your hearts find assurance in the fact of God's complete sovereignty. His true Saints have nothing to fear. Amen.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY |
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most helpful and trustworthy & Background history only |
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Augustine. The City of
God. The Holy Bible, New
International
Version
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