Revelation
6:1-17.The Four Horsemen.
Revelation
6:1-17.
The Four Horsemen.
American Journal of Biblical Theology
Copyright © 2007, J.W. Carter Scripture quotes
from KJV
The vision of the throne of heaven contained in the fourth and fifth chapters of John’s Revelation sets the stage for this sixth chapter. In the fourth chapter we found heaven to be a place of peace and joy where our presence there is sealed by God’s promise, given to us by His mercy and grace. As we move into chapter five we find the Holy Trinity to be the sole authority in heaven as He is given honor and praise by those in heaven and those on earth. Using the poetic metaphor of a seven-layered, sealed scroll, John describes God’s plan for the future of the world as its contents is progressively revealed. Remember that it was Jesus Christ who John has met on the Isle of Patmos, and it is Jesus Christ who is revealing His plan to John with the instructions to record the prophesy so that it can be used to encourage a struggling first-century church.
Twenty-first century culture often wants the details of any event described in a clear, vivid, entertaining, and complete format. We are used to high-impact news reporting that contains numerous photographs, videos, and commentary that together paint a picture of what was seen. We expect complete and technical accuracy and hold the reports at a high level of scrutiny. The revelation of God’s plan is not a news report, nor is it subject to man’s scrutiny. It is the word of God that reveals what the LORD chooses to reveal for God’s purpose, not for man’s. Consequently, we must always approach the revelation without too much scrutiny as we make use of our present knowledge of the gospel and God’s purposes in the remainder of scripture as we attempt to glean what has been given to us in the pictorial imagery that John draws with his poetic words. The revelation of the content of the scrolls takes place in a sequential manner that may imply a chronological sequence. Though we might find comfort in interpreting the events of the seven signs as taking place in the order that is implied, there is little need to actually do so. We know these things will take place, and that may be sufficient for us.
The first act, the opening of the seals, reveals God’s plan for the future of this present world, a world characterized by evil that has rebelled against God and persecuted His faithful. God has a plan for dealing with the world’s rebellion, and knowledge of that plan can bring comfort to those who are currently struggling against a world that persecutes Christians. This is not the only scriptural revelation of the end of the age of the earth. The seven signs described in the scrolls are also described in Jesus’ sermons in Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21.
Keep in mind that the images that are presented in this poetic apocalyptic literary style paint a picture-story of those substantive principles and events of God’s plan for mankind that is also presented in non-apocalyptic literature in the remainder of the Bible. Jesus came to fulfill the promise that God made to Abraham, and the total revelation of God’s message was revealed through Jesus Christ. The Revelation of John is not bringing us a new revelation, but rather places in writing the same message that Jesus brought us, but does so in a wonderful and colorful literary style. By painting a vivid word-picture, John gives us a unique means to remember God’s plan.
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.
The contents of God’s plan is about to be revealed to John. One of the four living creatures who served to lead in the worship of God turned to John and spoke directly to Him. The voice was one of authority. Unlike the clear call of a trumpet, John describes this message as one of power and authority. We might recall from the previous chapter that no man was worthy to open the scroll, nor to look upon it. There is a sin problem that separates us from God. However, that sin problem has been dealt with through the work of Jesus Christ, offering forgiveness to all who place their faith and trust in Him. John is one who has placed his faith and trust in the LORD, and has experienced that forgiveness. Consequently, John and all who love God, are invited to look upon the contents of the scroll, not because of their own worthiness, but because of the worthiness of Jesus who calls us to repentance and reveals God’s plan to us.
If we were to visualize the setting, we might see Jesus holding a scroll that has had one of the seals removed. He has called upon John to look upon the scroll. We might expect to see an unrolled page of text that contains some very interesting writing. Actually, because of the literary style used, we will be given quite a different picture. As the scroll is unrolled, it will not be words that we see. It might be more aptly described as a living picture book as images jump out of the pages and take life, images that represent real future events. The descriptions of these events include those involved in the events, the authorities that drive the circumstances of the events, and the interactions between the two.
I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
As John presents God’s plan in the sequence of the seven signs of the scroll, the first is described as a rider on a white horse, a rider who has a weapon and the authority to use it. John makes it clear that this rider is no hunter. He is riding forth for a singular purpose: to defeat an enemy in battle. This is quite a contrast to what John has been describing to this point. John described heaven as a place of peace and praise. However, God’s plan for the future of the world is anything but peaceful. The first-century Christians were suffering persecution with little hope as they were immersed in a wicked world that seemed without end. Jesus’ message to the church is that a great change is coming.
As corrupted and powerful as their evil world was (and is), it helps to know that evil will not win the final victory. God’s plan is to judge the evil of this world in a dramatic and final manner. Consequently, if the seals represent signs of the end of the present world, the rider is not being released to lead its people in victory. In their time the illustration of a rider with a bow was widely accepted to represent the Parthian Empire that caused widespread death and destruction as its horsemen were brutal and veritably unstoppable. The image of the horseman with a bow was common in Roman literature following the defeat of Crassus of Rome by the Parthians in 53 B.C. Confusion enters when we attempt to place a specific identity on the rider. A common modern interpretation is that this horseman is the antichrist who, as the human personification of the spirit of evil in this world, is bent on the conquest of human souls. The rider will later lead the attack on the church, making such an identity reasonable. However, the rider is also described as “faithful and true” (19:11-16) would serve to confuse the issue. It is more important to understand God’s purpose in the function of the horsemen than it is in trying to assign them a specific literal identity. Any adamant drive to assign literal identity also denies much the basic context of apocalyptic style that tends to use these images to represent concepts that are much broader in scope than the identity of a single individual.
Since the rider has been given a crown, presumably by God, assigning to him the authority to engage in his work of conquest. The fruit of his labor will be neither peaceful or joyful. His work will bring about turmoil and sorrow, misery and death. The opening of the first seal reveals God’s release of a power and authority upon this world that will be self-serving in its attempt to overthrow the kingdom of God on earth. Standing in opposition to Christ’s elect, it will bring persecution and death upon those who love the LORD. Those who hold to a realized eschatology would argue that this seal has already been opened as that selfsame spirit has been active among mankind since his creation. Those who hold to a futurist eschatology hold that this seal will bring in the final and most brutal period of persecution that will usher in the period final tribulation, immediately prior to the coming of Christ who will take the faithful from the earth before that tribulation would destroy them.
The rider is mounted on a white horse. We tend to associate white with purity. The rider appears to come forth in purity, presenting a message that is easy for us to accept. Those who assign this rider to the antichrist would point to his occult plan as he presents himself as an agent for goodness, confusing and beguiling those he intends on destroying.
It might be wisest, when approaching the images of the horsemen, to refrain from seeking additional identities, definitions, and purposes that that which is implied in the image itself. We might be better to refrain from creating scenarios that make good entertainment, but may not be an accurate representation of God’s revelation message. With that in mind, we might be better to simply recognize the rider on the white horse as representing a worldly authority that will bring great persecution upon God’s elect, an authority that is still part of God’s ultimate plan.
When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
The first rider points to the violence, warfare, and persecution that will be part of the end of the age. This may be realized as warfare among nations as well as warfare against the church. The second rider rides a red horse. The color red is used to symbolize blood, and the significance of this is enhanced by its description of ‘fiery.” Also, like the first rider, this one was given power. First, the rider received the power to take peace from the earth through revolution, civil war, and community strife. He was also given a large sword, signifying that a great amount of bloodshed would be realized when he is loosed. Also, the color red is consistent with its ancient use to refer to revolution.
At the point of the writing, there is no revolution either planned or possible that would free the Christians from Roman domination. God reveals that there will be a time when he will loose a spirit of revolution and strife on the earth that will result in a great deal of bloodshed. Those Christians who felt persecuted would see this as an encouragement to know that, though the revolution is not possible now, it is coming. God’s plan will unfold at some point, and their faithfulness will be vindicated.
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
The third seal loosed the third horse, whose rider had authority to create poverty and famine in the land. War and revolution with its inherent destruction of basic public administration and services results in a breakdown of society. The destruction and/or theft of food, staples, and crops would result in a tremendous famine and poverty. The third horse is black, representing the sorrow and death that is to come when these events transpire.
The pair of scales are held in the hand of the rider, indicating his power and authority to use them. These scales were of the type used to measure commodities for sale, so their presence in this picture represent commerce. This poverty and famine that is to come will have a tremendous impact on the economy. The stress on the economy caused by a lack of supply will generate tremendous inflation as the costs for staple goods skyrockets. The cost of a quart of wheat rises to the equivalent of a day's wages, twelve to twenty times its normal price. The concept of a desperate famine is further supported by the failure of less important commodities such as oil and wine to rise in price. People can live without oil and wine, though in their culture it would be very difficult to do so. During a time of famine it is those staple foods that demand high prices. People are spending all of their resources on these, and there is no demand for luxuries. One can imagine that, when one is starving, they will easily trade their gold and silver for a meal.
Some argue that the preservation of prices on the oil and wine indicate that the stress is caused, not by warfare and rebellion, but by an extended drought that is severe enough to affect crops, but not severe enough to destroy the production of oil and grapes that come from trees and vines that are more drought resistant.
When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. 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.
The fourth seal loosed the fourth horseman who rode on a pale horse, whose name is thanatos, that death that is brought on by sickness and starvation that follow an extended famine. The color represented by this horse, chloros, is that yellow-green pall that is seen in the skin of one who is unhealthy unto death.
To the ancients, Hades is the eternal place of abode of all who die. When the signs of this prophesy are realized, the death of as many as one fourth of the people of the earth from violence, famine, disease, and wild beasts will follow quickly behind. Note that in a time of famine the wild animals are also hungry and more likely to attack man. The breakdown of civil protection also leaves people more vulnerable to attack. The wild beasts that attack man can be as large as a lion or as small as a bacterium.
The “They” of verse 8 most likely refers to all of the four horsemen who together represent the events that are to come at the close of the age: wars, civil unrest, famine and death. It is these four phenomena which the world will experience, not the literal sighting of four horsemen on four colored horses.
As with chapter 4 that painted a picture of heaven, and chapter 5 that painted a picture of heavenly worship and the revelation of God’s plan, we find herein another visual image of four horsemen who ride horses of different colors, each given the power to exact different judgments upon this wicked world that will end the age of sin and vindicate the faithfulness of those who love the LORD. One can visualize these four horsemen, lined up, side-by-side with their horses stomping and snorting as they are ready to charge and unleash the judgment of God. In reviewing this image we can list the signs of the end of the age.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
Chapters 6 and 8 describe the opening of seven seals. What is a seal? It is a mechanism that is used by someone in authority to maintain security and integrity of that which is sealed. For example, when the Roman guards placed Jesus in the tomb, they sealed its opening. When a letter was dispatched from a king’s office, it was often sealed with the king’s identifying mark. Often this mark was made on a wax seal using his ring, a signet ring, hence the word signature. These two chapters describe the opening, or revealing, of seven truths pertaining to the experience of the persecuted saints, God’s purpose in that persecution, and God’s plan for dealing with the evil in the world. The seven seals are: the white horse. 6:1-2; the red horse. 6:3-4; the black horse. 6:5-6; the pale horse. 6:7-8; the martyrs. 6:9-11; anarchy. 6:12-17; and the preparation for the trumpets. 8:1-5.
The first four seals, personified as horsemen, were judgments sent forth by God to deal with the evil authority of the world, asserting both God’s sovereignty and judgment. The opening of the remaining three seals reveal what will happen when the horsemen are loosed. It is not yet time to end the age, so those who remain faithful are still going to undergo persecution. Many will die and be part of that special class of the faithful who died as a result of their testimony for God.
Note that this dispensation of woe is not similarly portrayed as the others. The previous four were personified as horsemen sent out to destroy the world. It would not be reasonable for anyone to be sent out from heaven to martyr the saints. In this case, the seal reveals that those who have been martyred will receive reward, though the time of persecution is not over. There will be more martyrs yet to come. However, by the words used here, there is a completion to the age. The martyrdom will some day stop for good. The power of evil will be overcome.
John looks under the altar (that which is under the authority of God in heaven) and sees what? There with Jesus are those who were martyred for their testimony. The first words of assurance we see is that those who are martyred are with Jesus. As those going through persecution read this, they are reminded and assured that those who have died for the faith are not only with Jesus, they are in His immediate vicinity.
The word “testimony” is used more by John than any other New Testament writer (27 times, 11 in the Revelation.) The testimony of early Christians often cost them their lives, and certainly John had seen enough of this martyrdom. Consequently, the Greek word that is translated “testimony” is “martyr.” The word, testimony, and the word, martyr are one and the same. How much are you persecuted for your testimony? Or, is your testimony silent? The lack of testimony is evident by a lack of persecution.
What does it mean for the martyrs to have been given a white robe? A robe encircles, covers, and protects the wearer. The white robe symbolizes purity. The martyrs were, by an act of God, encircled, covered, and protected by God’s purity, not their own. Though their statements may sound like a call for vindication, their motives are pure. Too many have been martyred. “How long will the martyrdom continue, and when will the judgment take place?” is their question. God’s answer to this question being asked by all who are persecuted is curious. God is still working in the world, and will continue to demonstrate his love in a world that is permeated by sin. Martyrdom will continue for a while. However, there will be an end to this time. There will be a completion to God’s plan, at which time martyrdom will cease. God’s plan is God’s plan, unaffected by the plans or desires of man. It is unchanging and dependable, firm and final.
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
The sixth seal reveals the identity and power of the true God to all people as well as His rule over nature. Just as he will use people and animals to work His final judgment, He will also make use of the balance of this world’s natural systems. God did this when He brought about the ecological circumstances that caused the Noahic flood. In times of natural disaster people often tend to believe more readily in a god because of their recognition that mankind is not in control. The cataclysms of Vs. 12-15 are significant, more so than any yet experienced in recorded history. We see earthquakes, apparently accompanied with sufficient volcanic activity to block the sun, stars and moon. Burning cinders would appear like stars as they fall back to the ground, setting fires and generating that much more chaos. Pagans ascribed the disposition of natural events to their pagan gods, and such a natural fury would only serve to emphasize the impotence of their gods to protect them.
Seven classes of man are described in verse 15. These classes represent all people. The testimony of these represent their recognition or belief that they are experiencing the wrath of God, not an unusual response. Note that the testimony of the people is not one of repentance, even when confronted by such a cataclysm. Promises made during times of stress are usually forgotten when the crisis is over. Most people will not see the relationship between God’s judgment and their own sin. Everything that is happening is someone else’s fault.
Many during this time will acknowledge God for the first time. Note that in the last verse, the people are calling out for death to hide them from God and His wrath. We might be seeing an indication of a great number of suicides that will accompany the profound stresses brought on by such violence, pestilence and death that will be brought in by the four horsemen. Actually, what will be the result of their death? They will still face that final judgment. The sixth seal demonstrates to the persecuted Christians that God will ultimately punish this world for their sin. The saints will be vindicated.
For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
First-century Christians can barely stand. They are martyred for their testimony, persecuted for their beliefs, and overwhelmed by the evil that is so pervasive in this world. It seems like the evil stand while they are defeated. Bad things seem to happen to good people, while the opposite is true: the evil seem to be rewarded by power and possessions.
However, a day is coming when God will end this age in a violent and final sequence of events that will both reveal His own power and annihilate the influence of sin on this earth. The horsemen describe a sequence of events that will bring man against man in violent wars and rebellions that will serve to destroy the basic infrastructures of civilization, costing many lives. The resulting pestilence and famine will be pervasive, bringing about the death of a large segment of the world population. God will also employ nature in His judgment against evil mankind as He allows earthquakes and other natural disasters to add to the deadly chaos. People will see from this display that it is God who is exercising this authority to destroy evil.
Who can stand against God in such a day of judgment? What can man do to hold back the earthquakes? What can man do to hold back the hand of God as He brings a final and massive judgment upon the wickedness of this world?
We have two responses to God’s plan. The first is to be assured that our faith and trust is in the LORD. Those who have not placed their faith and trust in God will be subject to the woes of the horsemen. Second, it is the responsibility of every believer to share that faith with others so that every soul possible can be saved.
