LEARNING DAILY

 

Revelation 6:4, Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.

 

Revelation 6:5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

 

Revelation 6:8, So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

 

The timing of the events in The Revelation has always been a mystery to me. We do not know, for instance, when the Rapture of the Church will occur; however, the study of God’s Word indicates signs that the end of the time as we know it is at hand. When we read about the first four seals being opened (the Four Horsemen), I had to wonder about the peace being gained by the one on the white horse being disrupted by the next three. Perhaps the answer lies in what Jesus said in Matthew 24:15, “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place ….” (see Daniel 9:27). This occurs three and one-half years into the tribulation and begins with the Antichrist desecrating the temple; he will sit on the throne of God in the newly constructed Temple in Jerusalem. This is the beginning of what Jesus called the Great Tribulation and will consist of the last three and one-half years of the tribulation. Peace is ended and the red horse and rider enters to bring murder, war and violent death.

 

There have been terrible wars throughout history where millions have been killed and wounded; but what takes place at this time will “be more devastating than anything in history” (David Jeremiah). The color red, the color of blood, is symbolic of the slaughter of people. When the Bible speaks of killing one another does that refer to civil war of some sort? Does it refer to the killing of those who give their life to Christ during the tribulation? Does it refer to nations going to war with nations? Or is this rider sent to defy all those who would try to build a humanistic version of peace without God? The world has certainly built a culture based on violence. With the appearance of the rider on the red horse, violence and death will take on a whole different meaning.

 

The appearance of the black horse comes as a result of the warfare – death and starvation. When food (and other resources) becomes scarce prices go up and, as we have seen today, going to the grocery store takes much more of our pay check. Go back and read the rest of the information about the rider on the black horse and see this. The peace offered by the Antichrist will be followed by warfare, and the entire world will be filled with hunger because food will be difficult to be found and gotten. If you read the rest of the information, only the rich will be unharmed by this; the “average” person will be starving. If we look a little further into The Revelation, food shortages will play right into the hands of the Antichrist who will establish a mark to be placed on his followers in order for them to buy and sell. He controls the world through the hunger that has occurred in the world. Would you agree that hunger is a basic need for all humans and will be a motivating factor that causes people to give their allegiance to him!

 

All this leads to a fourth rider on a pale horse. This rider has another person following him. Death is the rider with Hades following him very closely. We have seen the time of peace followed by war, famine and now death and Hades. Death and Hades are armed with the sword, hunger, pestilence (plagues and epidemics), and wild beasts. Again, I have to refer to the pestilence we have seen in the past – AIDS, covid-19, Ebola and diseases spread by rats, birds, and animals. What can be determined from this is death of many will occur and with Hades following it seems that the soul of those who die are sent to Hades, a place in hell where the unsaved go until the Great White Throne Judgment occurs at the end of the tribulation.

 

I am thankful the Lord Jesus Christ came to give His salvation to all who place their faith and trust in Him. He has overcome death and the grave that we might have eternal life in Him. Be encouraged and do all you can to walk the narrow way to His kingdom! May our lives, or testimony in Him shine bright that those who do not know Him as their Savior and Lord will come to Him! No one needs to go through this terrible time of tribulation.