Tagged: four horsemen

November 18, 2011

Authority was given to them (Rev. 6:7-8)

Previously: And Hades was following after him (Rev. 6:7-8)

The scripture

Rev. 6:7 – When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. The horseman on it was named Death, and Hades was following after him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth” (HCSB).

John records that authority is given to “them” – Death and Hades, although some manuscripts read “him,” probably meaning Death – over a fourth of the earth “to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth” (v. 8b). Matthew Henry notes, “He gave them power, that is, those instruments of his anger, or those judgments themselves; he who holds the winds in his hand has all public calamities at his command, and they can only go when he sends them and no further than he permits” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume, Rev. 6:3-8). But why a fourth of the earth? “God’s providence restrains both his own wrath and humanity’s violence,” according to the ESV Study Bible. Other commentators argue that the pale horse, being one of the four, simply has his equal share in the judgments to come.

Sword, famine and plague (literally thanatos, or death, but in this context meaning epidemic diseases like bubonic plague) summarize the work of the riders on the red, black and pale horses. Add to this the predatory nature of wild animals in a depopulated environment, and these four elements echo the covenant curses on Jerusalem during the Babylonian exile (Ezek. 14:21), lending support to the preterist view that the Book of Revelation is largely fulfilled in the first century A.D. at the fall of Jerusalem. However, the death of a fourth of the world’s population would be a “great tribulation” such as the world has not yet seen (Matt. 24:21), bolstering the futurist view that the events of Rev. 6-19 have yet to take place. If the futurists are correct, more than 1.6 billion people will perish, according to current population figures.

Matthew Henry makes a number of poignant observations about these four horsemen:

“(1) There is a natural as well as judicial connection between one judgment and another: war is a wasting calamity, and draws scarcity and famine after it; and famine, not allowing men proper sustenance, and forcing them to take that which is unwholesome, often draws the pestilence after it. (2) God’s quiver is full of arrows; he is never at a loss for ways and means to punish a wicked people. (3) In the book of God’s counsels he has prepared judgments for scorners as well as mercy for returning sinners. (4) In the book of the scriptures God has published threatenings against the wicked as well as promises to the righteous; and it is our duty to observe and believe the threatenings as well as the promises” (Rev. 6:3-8).

While the calamities wrought by the four horsemen appear to be either natural or man-made, we will see in the verses to come that God is orchestrating these judgments. The redeemed in heaven know it, and the wicked on earth realize it. But rather than repent, those who oppose God cry out to the rocks and mountains for death rather than to the Rock for salvation.

Four views of the fourth horseman

So what does this fourth seal mean to John’s audience in the first century – and to us today?

The preterist – who sees the events of Revelation primarily fulfilled in the first century – points to the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The reference to the means of death – sword, hunger, death (pestilence) and beasts of the earth – are echoes of Ezek. 14:21, where God sends His “four devastating judgments against Jerusalem – sword, famine, dangerous animals, and plague – in order to wipe out [both] man and animal from it! Even so, there will be survivors …” In Ezekiel, God uses these judgments on Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. But now His instrument of judgment is the Roman army, which kills more than 1 million, destroys the temple, ransacks Jerusalem and scatters the survivors. Josephus describes the events of 70 A.D. in this way: “So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged” (Wars, 5:12:3-4).

Historicists – who view the events of Revelation as unfolding throughout the church age – tend to see the pale horse as representing the years 248 – 268 A.D., covering the reigns of Decius, Gallus, Aemilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus. Edward Gibbon, who wrote The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, writes that from 248 – 296 A.D. “five thousand persons died daily in Rome; and many towns that escaped the hands of the barbarians were entirely depopulated” (quoted in Revelation: Four Views, p. 114). Some commentators prefer to translate the phrase “a fourth of the earth” in verse 8 as the Latin Vulgate does: “over the four parts of the earth,” referring to the four sections into which the Roman Empire is divided at the time.

Futurists – who interpret nearly all of Revelation as yet unfulfilled – contend that the events described here are global in scope and occur during the seven-year Tribulation. If fulfilled in our generation, the prophecy of one-fourth of the world’s population being killed would amount to more than 1.6 billion people – a great tribulation indeed, greater than the day of Noah, and matching the unprecedented magnitude described by Jesus in Matt. 24:21.

Finally, spiritualists, or idealists – who see Revelation as setting forth timeless truths concerning the battle between good and evil – understand the pale horse to represent death by various causes throughout the church age. Since one-quarter of the world’s population perishes, it is reasonable to see this played out over centuries rather than as a single catastrophic event. The four severe judgments – the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts – symbolize all universal woes that believers suffer along with unbelievers during the present evil age.

We come now to the end of the four horsemen – conquest, war, famine and death – and hear their thundering hoof beats as they leave the vanquished behind. What’s next? What could there be in the wake of these breathtaking events? Bodies have been destroyed, but the fifth seal uncovers the souls of martyrs crying out for God’s vengeance.

Next: The fifth seal (Rev. 6:9-11)

November 4, 2011

A horseman named death (Rev. 6:7-8)

Previously: The fourth seal (Rev. 6:7-8)

The scripture

A horseman named Death

Death is personified in this passage as a rider on a pale horse. This should not surprise us, as the inevitable end to life is depicted in many ways in scripture and folklore. In English, he is given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15^th century onward, is seen as a skeletal figure clothed in a black robe and hood, carrying a large scythe. In ancient Greece, death is sometimes depicted as a bearded, winged man, and sometimes as a young boy. His name is Thanatos, and his job is to escort departed souls to Hades. The Hindu scriptures speak of Yajarah, the lord of death, who rides a black buffalo and carries a lasso with which to bring souls to the underworld. The Lithuanians long ago named death Giltine, an old, ugly woman with a long blue nose and a poisonous tongue; they later adopted the image of the Grim Reaper.

In the Bible, we see death personified in a number of ways. In the Exodus, for example, the Lord Himself kills the first-born males not covered by the blood of the Passover lamb, while promising His faithful people He will not permit the “destroyer” to enter their homes (Ex. 12:23). In 2 Kings 19:35, “the Angel of the Lord” strikes dead 185,000 Assyrians who are encamped around Jerusalem. King David, whose people suffer the consequences of his sin of taking a military census, sees this same angel standing between earth and heaven, with his sword drawn (1 Chron. 21:16). Death, of course, also is described as a horseman, as in Rev. 6:7; as a ruler and enslaver (Rom. 7:24, 8:2); as just payment for sin (Rom. 6:23); and as an enemy to be defeated (1 Cor. 15:26).

The word “death” is used about 400 times in scripture. New Bible Dictionary makes the following observation, “From one point of view death is the most natural of things: ‘man is destined to die once’ (Heb. 9:27). It may be accepted without rebellion: ‘Let me die the death of the righteous’ (Nu. 23:10). From another, it is most unnatural. It is the penalty for sin (Rom. 6:23), and is to be feared as such. Both points of view are found in the Bible; neither should be overlooked” (p. 265).

While death comes to every living thing, from house plants to people, is affects humans in a unique way. God has created us with souls and spirits that live beyond the grave. Only human beings are described as spiritually dead and in need of redemption. And only human beings are in danger of the second death, which is the lake of fire, or hell (Rev. 20:14). That’s why the apostle Paul could embrace death, for to him to be absent from the body was to be present with the Lord. That’s also why scripture warns the unbeliever to be afraid of death, for it leads inevitably to hell. In Adam’s sin, he brought two deaths upon mankind: physical and spiritual. All things die physically because of the curse of sin. But only human beings die spiritually and are separated from God. When Christ tasted death for every person (Heb. 2:9), He died twice. While on the cross, as He became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), Jesus was separated from God the Father, prompting Him to cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). But having satisfied the Father’s wrath, and before dying physically, Jesus could declare, “Father, into Your hands I entrust My spirit” (Luke 23:46); His relationship with the Father was restored, but that did not prevent His physical death.

Unbelievers are, in a sense, only two-thirds alive. They are alive, of course, in body. And their souls – minds, emotions, wills – are alive as well. But because of their sins, they are spiritually dead, cut off from the life of God and denied an intimate and everlasting relationship with Him. It is only when the Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of their sin and draws them to Christ that they are made spiritually alive (regenerated, or born again) and justified, or acquitted of their sins. This is all the work of God, even acting upon the human heart and enabling the one who once hated God to receive Him by faith.

Death rides hard upon a pale horse, and the abode of the dead (Hades) follows closely behind. He tramples the wicked beneath him, while Hades picks up the pieces. By the end of Revelation 6, the wicked are calling on the rocks to hide them from the wrath of God. It is curious that they do not call upon the wrathful God to forgive them. But it’s too late. They are beyond repentance, beyond grace, beyond mercy. Death comes. Hades follows. Judgment pursues. And the second death, the lake of fire, awaits.

For believers, however, death is perhaps best personified as an enemy who will be destroyed. The apostle Paul writes, quoting from Isaiah and Hosea, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54b-57).

W.A. Criswell writes, “Though I face death tomorrow, yet, if I face Him today, my home, my refuge is not in the grave. The glory of God is not under the ground. The glory of God is in the pavilions of the heavens. God’s people have their house and their home and their destiny beyond the skies. For God’s people there is glory and light and victory and heaven. That is the call the Lord extends in this day of grace to your heart” (Expository Sermons on Revelation, p. 100).

Next: And Hades was following after him (Rev. 6:7-8)

October 25, 2011

The fourth seal (Rev. 6:7-8)

Previously: Do not harm the olive oil and the wine (Rev. 6:5-6)

The scripture

When Jesus opens the fourth seal, the fourth living creature thunders, “Come!” and a horse and rider appear. This horse, the last of the four, is a ghastly grayish green. The rider is called by name – Hades, the Greek word for the abode of the dead – and Death follows closely behind. This frightful duo is granted authority to strike a fourth of the population by sword, famine, plague and wild animals.

What does all this mean to John’s first-century readers? And what does it mean to us today? Let’s take a closer look.

The fourth seal

The Lamb opens the fourth seal, enabling the fourth living creature to call for the fourth horse and rider. Recapping what’s been written in previous chapters before about seals, they likely are pieces of wax or clay that have been stamped with a ring or other metal object bearing the insignia of the owner. They identify the person who has authorized what’s been written. The seal may be broken only by a designated authority, in this case the Lamb. As each seal is broken, it gives way to another portion of the scroll until all seven seals are removed and the full message is revealed.

As the seal is opened, John hears the fourth living creature say, “Come!” This call probably is not to John but to the horse and rider, who appear at once.

A pale green horse

This horse is described as pale green or greenish gray, the ashen color of death. And no wonder, for the rider upon him is named Death. The Greek word used here to describe the horse’s color, chloros, is the same word used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe vegetation. In Mark 6:39, for example, the Gospel writer records that Jesus has the multitudes sit down in groups on the “green grass.” In Rev. 8:7, at the first trumpet judgment, the “green grass” is burned up. And in Rev. 9:4, the locusts are told not to harm the “grass of the earth.”

What a stark contrast this horse is to the others: white, fiery red (yes, horses can be varying hues of red), and black. But what horse is the color of faded summer vegetation? Perhaps like the grass, which eventually withers and dies, this horse symbolizes the fleeting nature of human life – “As for man, his days are like grass,” Ps. 103:15 – and the inevitability of death and judgment. Consider these passages of scripture, particularly as they speak to death and judgment of the wicked:

Ps. 92:7 – “though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will eventually be destroyed.”
Ps. 129:6 –“Let them [all who hate Zion] be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it grows up.”
Isa. 5:24 – “Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots [those of the wicked in Judah] will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust.”
James 1:11 – “For the sun rises with its scorching heat and dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will wither away while pursuing his activities.”
1 Peter 1:24-25 – “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower drops off, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (quoting Isa. 40:6-8)

Ultimately, youth gives way to old age, vitality to inertia, health to illness, riches to ashes, life to death. While the clock ticks on the life of the unbeliever as he speeds headlong into a Christ-less eternity, the stark reality of death involves even the faithful Christian and is a reminder that the whole world groans beneath the weight of sin (Rom. 8:22). The difference, however, is that Christians – and creation itself – wait eagerly to “be set free from the bondage of corruption” (Rom. 8:21). For the wicked, Death comes on a pale green horse, with Hades close behind.

Next: A horseman named Death (Rev. 6:7-8)

September 12, 2011

A large sword was given to him (Rev. 6:3-4)

Previously: So that people should slay one another (Rev. 6:3-4)

The scripture

Rev. 6:3 – When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴Then another horse went out, a fiery red one, and its horseman was empowered to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him (HCSB).

The words associated with the second seal end with, “And a large sword was given to him.” Actually, this is the small Roman sword called the machaira. Roman soldiers use it for the capital punishment of Roman citizens, as Paul notes in Rom. 13:4: “But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it [government] does not carry the sword [machaira] for no reason.” This small sword – more like a large knife that may be concealed – is in contrast to the romphaia, the sword a soldier carries marching into battle. W.A. Criswell believes the distinction is important: “A machaira was the kind of a knife with which to cut the throat of an animal or of a man. The red horseman represents not only nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, but, more nearly, the terrible slaughter of class fighting class and party fighting party, as in civil war. The fighters ambush in the night; they assassinate in the day; they murder at twilight and at noontime, and everyone lives in the fear of his life. There is murder and bloodshed everywhere” (Expository Sermons on Revelation, p. 99).

But why is this small sword called “large” or “great” if it is little more than a dagger? Perhaps because the impact of this murderous evil is widespread. Just as “a little yeast leavens the whole lump of dough” (Gal. 5:9), and just as Jesus taught, in the Sermon on the Mount, that adultery and murder begin in the human heart, perhaps the widespread bloodshed begins because of multiplied pettiness in sinful hearts, unrestrained by the departed Holy Spirit. Whatever the reason for the depiction of this small sword as large, we should beware that hidden evil thoughts, if left unconfessed to God, may manifest in the greatest kinds of wickedness. We should always be alert because our adversary, the Devil, “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

One final thought: “The phrase ‘to make men slaughter one another’ is interesting because in the OT this is one of the means YHWH used to judge His enemies (cf. Judg. 7:22; I Sam. 14:20; II Chr. 20:22)” (R.J.D. Utley, Hope in Hard Times – The Final Curtain: Revelation, Study Guide Commentary Series, Vol. 12, p. 61). It is good for us to remember that God is sovereign over all human activity, even to the point that He sometimes uses our evil as an instrument of His judgment. The ways of the Lord are mysterious, deep and wonderful.

Next: The third seal (Rev. 6:5-6)

September 2, 2011

So that people would slaughter one another (Rev. 6:3-4)

Previously: Empowered to take peace from the earth (Rev. 6:3-4)

The scripture

It’s interesting to note John’s use of the phrase “so that.” This rider is given authority to take peace from the earth “so that people would slaughter one another.” Whatever restraint has been on mankind’s natural tendency to hate and murder is now taken away. This could be the Roman peace that crumbles beneath its own weight and gives way to warfare. Or it could be the uneasy peace that has existed between the Jews and their Roman occupiers, giving way to Jewish rebellion and Rome’s crushing response in 70 A.D. as Jerusalem is sacked, the temple is destroyed, more than 1 million Jews are killed and the rest are scattered in the Diaspora. Or it could be a more timeless statement about the sinful tendencies of the human race throughout the church age, despite the spread of Christianity and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It could even refer to the martyrdom of so many Christians at the hands of the Jews and Romans in the early centuries of the church.

No doubt the early Christians often bristled at the opposition to their faith and freedoms. The Apostle Paul addresses this in Romans 13, urging Christians to live according to high ethical standards, even when human government is far from perfect: “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. So then, the one who resists the authority is opposing God’s command, and those who oppose it will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do good and you will have its approval. For government is God’s servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, because it does not carry the sword for no reason. For government is God’s servant, an avenger that brings wrath on the one who does wrong” (vv. 1-4).

The apostle Peter also touches on this subject in 1 Peter 2:13-17: “Submit to every human institution because of the Lord, whether to the Emperor as the supreme authority, or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For it is God’s will that you, by doing good, silence the ignorance of foolish people. As God’s slaves, [live] as free people, but don’t use your freedom as a way to conceal evil. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the Emperor.”

One other thought, from a futurist perspective, is that the false peace of the Antichrist during the first half of the tribulation now gives way to widespread warfare. No doubt the days of bloodshed begin not only because the Antichrist wills it to be so, but because the Supreme restrainer of evil – the Holy Spirit – has removed Himself from the earth. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, addressing the false teaching that the Day of the Lord has already come. He comments: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For [that day] will not come unless the apostasy (or rebellion) comes first and the man of lawlessness (or man of sin / Antichrist) is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God” (2 Thess. 2:3-4).

Paul adds in verses 5-7, “Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I told you about this? And you know what currently restrains [him], so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way …” Futurists contend that this restraining power is the Holy Spirit, Who withdraws to heaven with the saints at the Rapture, enabling the Antichrist to establish a false peace on the earth, only to take it away.

Next: A large sword was given to him (Rev. 6:3-4)