Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

Finally, the seals of the scroll will be opened. This is exciting stuff!

In this lesson, we’ll look at the breaking of the first four seals, the four horsemen of the apocalypse. First I think it will help to review briefly what we’ve studied so far.

• John was on an island called Patmos, off the coast of modern-day Turkey. Jesus spoke to John there through His angel. He told John things that “must soon take place” (1:1, 3)
• John promised that if we study these things and take them to heart, we will be blessed by  them! (1:3)
• Jesus told John to write three things (1:19): “What you have seen” (Chapter 1), “What is now,” (Chapters 2-3), and “What will take place later” (Chapters 4-22).
• Jesus instructed John to write what he saw in a letter to the “seven churches in the province of Asia” (modern Turkey) (1:4, 11). John called himself a “brother and companion” to those churches in their suffering (1:9).
• John proceeded to write penetrating personal letters to each of those seven churches. The letters contained words that originated from the mouth of Jesus Himself (chapters 2-3). They provided criticisms, compliments, warnings, and promises of hope.
• Next, John saw a door standing open in Heaven and a voice told him to come up to see “what must take place after this” (4:1). The things that “must take place” include Satanic spirits desperately trying to frustrate God’s purposes by destroying His people, God destroying the powers of Satan - evil and death, and God ushering His people into His kingdom
• John spent a good bit of time in chapter 4 describing the glorious nature of Heaven, with God on His throne surrounded by 24 elders and 4 “living creatures.” The elders and living creatures seem to have the role of worshipping God and helping Him in carrying out His judgments.
• In our last lesson, John described a scroll that was sealed with seven seals — Jesus’ Last Will and Testament for His followers. Only Jesus – the Lion who became a living, slain Lamb – was qualified to break the seals so that the scroll could be opened.

John now witnesses the seals being broken. Although the actual opening of the scroll is never mentioned, we may assume that the opening occurs after the seals are broken. The content of the scroll itself is the rest of the Book of Revelation. It contains two things:

1. God judging the demonic powers that oppress His people, and
2. Gathering the saints into God’s kingdom

These two things complement each other. As we’ve said before, Christians will have to experience the bitter and vile things that happen in the world before they are gathered into God’s kingdom. But as we suffer through them, we need to keep in mind three things:

1. The suffering is the work of Satan
2. God will prevail, and we with Him
3. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Cor 4:17).

As they happen, we need to be thankful to God that He’s bringing us into His kingdom.

The seals represent the events that lead up to the Great Tribulation period. As each of the first four seals is broken, a horseman rides out into the earth on a colored horse: first a white horse, then a red horse, next a black horse, and finally a pale horse.

SIDE NOTE: There are four similar horses in a prophecy of Zechariah (Zech 6:1ff). Those horses are the same colors as the ones John described, though they appear in a different order. As in Revelation, Zechariah’s horses carry out God’s wrath upon His enemies. This suggests that Zechariah saw the same horsemen as John, but the vision applied to a different time and circumstance.

One of the four living creatures (angels) that surrounded God’s throne summons four horsemen with the simple word “Come.” It is time to get this over with.

So, what do the horses and horsemen represent?

The First Seal - The White Horse (Rev 6:2)
There is no dispute about what the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th horses represent: War, Scarcity, and Death by disease and violence. The symbolism of the first horse, however, is heavily disputed.

Many interpret this white horse as the Antichrist — the great imitator of Jesus. Jesus rides a white horse victoriously in 19:1-11, so the reasoning goes that the Antichrist will ride a white horse in imitation victory. The problem is, it’s too early for the Antichrist. The Great Tribulation period, according to my understanding, hasn’t started yet. It will begin after the 7th seal is broken and the scroll is opened.

Others are tempted to think of this white horse as the same one Jesus will ride in 19:1-11, so they believe this symbolizes something about Jesus Himself. But a victorious, conquering Christ would be out of place in the context of this first seal. Victory over evil isn’t complete yet (beginning in Chapter 8).

On the other hand, white in Revelation does always symbolize Christ or something associated with Him, such as spiritual victory. If you want to study this out, here are the passages: 1:14; 2:17; 3:4, 5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 13; 19:11, 14; 20:11.

I believe that unlike the other seals, the first seal and its white horse represent something positive. Notices that when this one is broken there is no mention of a woe as there is with the second, third, and fourth seals/horses.

A clue to the meaning of the white horse, whose rider carries a bow and wears a crown, can be found in what’s often called the “Olivet Discourse” - Matthew 24:3ff and Mark 13:5-19.

Check this out:

5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, `I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 “When you see `the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it (*or, he) does not belong–let the reader understand–then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now–and never to be equaled again. (Mark 13:5-19)

According to Jesus:

1. There will be a period of wars, rumors of war, conflicts, earthquakes, famine, and persecution to the point of death
2. After that will be a period of great tribulation
3. Next will come the abomination of desolation - the Antichrist - who will afflict God’s people

Finally, Christ will come to gather His saints into His kingdom:

26 At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. (Mark 13:26-27)

This is the same basic pattern that Revelation describes.

But the beginning of the end will be marked by two opposing forces:

1. Aggressive evil against God’s people, and 
2. Aggressive evangelism

Mark and Matthew both say “the gospel must first be preached to all nations” (Mark 13:10; Mat 24:14).

History has been laden with severe opposition against the church, but the church has continued to proclaim the gospel in the face of it. Each time, the opposition has eventually ceased and the gospel has ultimately prevailed. No human force can stop the spreading of God’s word.

The white horse, I believe, represents the gospel being proclaimed throughout the world. The bow and crown represents victories in that effort (see Hab 3:9; Isa 41:2; Zech 9:13; Psa 45:4-5; et al).

The Second Seal - The Red Horse (Rev 6:3-4)
The red horse symbolizes war and bloodshed.

There were not a lot of wars during the first century. In fact, there were several centuries of relative peace under the Roman Empire. But the peace was based on force, enforced by military might and fear of consequence. That is the best human effort can do to achieve peace.

That form of military might and conquest has been the dominant policy of the world and will continue to be so until Jesus comes again.

The Third Seal - The Black Horse (Rev 6:5-6)
The black horse symbolizes scarcity.

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!” (Rev 6:6)

Wheat was a staple of the middle class; barley was a poor-man’s grain. A quart of either would feed one person for one day. “A day’s wages” in v. 6 is literally “a denarius.”

Normally, a denarius at that time would buy 12-15 times this much food. The message is that when this woe comes, it will take an entire day’s wages just to feed a small family on the cheapest food available.

Oil and wine were also staples of the daily diet in the first century, but the voice ordered “Do not damage the oil and wine.”

The message from that is that God will impose limits to this scarcity - He won’t allow total famine.

All in all, what we see here is the description of an economic system gotten out of hand. Wages will be so low and/or prices so high that people will have a difficult time surviving. Note that this condition usually follows war (the second horse).

The Fourth Seal - The Pale Horse (Rev 6:7-8)
The meaning of the fourth horse is pretty straightforward: it represents death from war, famine, sickness, and wild animals. But God is still limiting this suffering - it can only affect 1/4 of the earth.

Remember, this is just the “beginning of birth pains,” not the great tribulation itself.