Red horse, Black horse, Pale horse

May 16, 2020 (Saturday)

 

Yesterday we started thinking about the “four horsemen of the apocalypse.” The white horse is portrayed as a conqueror. Let’s see what happens next. If you think about it, they are self-evident.

 

^“When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, Come!’ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.” [Revelation 6:3 – 4 NIV]

 

The opening of the second seal reveals the rider of a red horse. Red symbolizes blood and blood shed. Technically, the word translated “red” is better translated “fire-like.”  This is an image of war.  It makes sense if one is out to conqueror that bloodshed is the natural consequence.  This rider is able to take peace and cause people to kill each other.  Notice the lack of peace can be on a personal level as well as a national level. 

 

One way to understand this is the collapse of social order.  With no moral or absolute restraint (restrainer removed) then anything goes. Another thought is this rider represents mass and indiscriminate slaughter (from the type of sword). Something we see with the legalization of abortion. Maybe we are seeing it with the pandemic.

 

"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. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’" [Revelation 6:6 NIV]

 

This is the only horsemen to have a spoken announcement. The third rider represents famine (or scarcity).  Scarcity is limited to grains (wheat and barley), while oil and wine are exempt. The price for grain would be about ten times expected in the ancient world.  This is also a picture of inflation. One thought on this is that while the regular person suffers, those that live in luxury do not. Basically, this is economic collapse, extreme inflation, and selective targeting.

 

The scales are a symbol of justice. Some have seen this, as well as the other horsemen, as images of Christ, this being the “Christ the law-giver.”

 

^“When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ 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.” [Revelation 6:7 – 8 NIV]

 

The rider of the pale (green, yellowish) horse is identified as “Death.”  It is trailed by “Hades” (the grave, hell) as opposed to the “lake of fire” in Revelation 20.  There is a massive amount of death that takes place here.  The text can mean one quarter of the population of the earth dies or one quarter of the earth’s land mass (such as the Middle East) is effected by this rider.  If it is the first possibility, two billion die due to this rider (based on today’s population of almost eight billion).  However, Biblical prophecy tends to be confined to Israel and it's region.

 

It has been suggested that the first four seals are trials on the church, and this is a turning of the tide. Join me tomorrow as we explore the meaning of the fifth seal. It’s not going to be a happy discussion so make sure you show up with your “big boy pants” on.