February 2, 2025 • 44 mins
Dive deep into the Book of Revelation as we explore the dramatic opening of the seven seals by Jesus Christ, unleashing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In this episode, we unpack the terrifying judgments of conquest, war, famine, and death, as described by John.
Discover the dual interpretations of the rider on the white horse—Christ or Antichrist?—and the symbolic meaning behind the red, black, and pale horses. We also examine the fifth and sixth seals, revealing the cries of the martyrs and the cosmic upheaval signaling the end of the world as we know it.
Join us for a thought-provoking analysis of biblical prophecy, ancient symbolism, and modern implications. Whether you’re a theology enthusiast or curious about end-time events, this episode offers a comprehensive look at one of the most mysterious and powerful passages in Scripture.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Well, thank you once again for listening to this
Bible Study Podcast.
I'm Randy Duncan and we'reabout to enter into a new phase
of Revelation, as we now tacklechapter 6.
In the first three chapters, wecovered the seven letters to
the seven churches in Asia Minor.
Chapter 4 was a scene from thethrone room in heaven, and in
the last chapter, we covered theseven letters to the seven
churches in Asia Minor.
Chapter four was a scene fromthe throne room in heaven, and
in the last chapter, we coveredthe scroll and the lamb.
(00:31):
And so these first fivechapters have basically been
setting the scene for what willfollow.
And what follows, beginning withthis chapter, is what most
people think of when they thinkabout Revelation, is what most
people think of when they thinkabout Revelation.
What we see now is just as manypeople imagine, and, for lack
of a better term, all hell'sabout to break loose and be
(00:51):
unleashed upon the earth.
Now we spent the last chapterdiscussing the scroll and its
seven seals, as well as the factthat the only person found
worthy to open the scroll wasJesus Christ.
And in this chapter, jesus willopen six of the seven seals.
And remember, john saw thatJesus went and he took the
scroll from the right hand ofhim, who was seated on the
(01:12):
throne, which is where we pickup the action, as John continues
in verses one and two, sayingNow I watched when the Lamb
opened one of the seven sealsand open the first of the seals,
and you'll see that the firstfour seals share a common image,
(01:45):
which is that of a horse andits rider.
And so this is where we get thefamous four horsemen of the
apocalypse which represent andbring these terrifying judgments
.
The riders appear to be angelsof judgment, but their exact
identity it shouldn't be pressedtoo much.
More important is what theyrepresent and the judgment that
(02:06):
they bring.
And it's really amazing howshort and concise these first
four seals and the visions are,especially considering the
significance of what eachrepresents.
But we begin with the first seal, the first horse and its rider.
John says it was a white horse.
Now, this white horse and itsrider have spurred all sorts of
different interpretations, butthe two primary views I'll
(02:29):
discuss could not possibly beany more different, because one
interpretation sees the whitehorse as representing the
Antichrist, while the other seesit as representing Christ
himself.
So let's talk about this forjust a moment.
For those who see thisrepresenting Christ on the white
horse, they point to Revelation19, 11, which says Then I saw
(02:52):
heaven opened and behold a whitehorse.
The one sitting on it is calledFaithful and True, and in
righteousness he judges andmakes war.
Now that one is clearly anallusion to Jesus, as we'll see
when we get there.
But does that mean that thisrider on a white horse is also
Christ?
Well, others argue that no.
This isn't Jesus.
(03:13):
It's an imitation of Jesus, whois later referenced as being a
rider on a white horse.
In other words, this is theAntichrist doing what he does
best, trying to imitate Christ.
As Donald Gray Barnhouse says,he's going to seek to fulfill
the world's idea of what theMessiah should be, since the
world has rejected God's word asto what the Messiah must be,
(03:38):
and it's sort of in line withSatan attempting to imitate God
and the Trinity.
With the Trinity we have theFather, the Son and the Holy
Spirit and with Satan's attemptto mimic the Trinity, you end up
with this unholy Trinity ofSatan, the Antichrist and the
false prophet.
And I find it interesting that,and as we've discussed, the
(03:59):
number seven is the number ofcompletion and perfection, the
number six representingsomething incomplete or
completion and perfection, thenumber 6 representing something
incomplete or less thanperfection.
And so with the Trinity youhave the number 777.
But with Satan's unholy Trinityyou end up with the number 666,
which we'll see later on is thenumber of the beast.
(04:19):
And so that's just anobservation there.
But getting back to those whobelieve this rider on the white
horse is Christ, remember, johnsaid Behold a white horse and
its rider had a bow and a crownwas given to him and he came out
conquering and to conquer.
So some people would argue thatthis symbolizes Jesus' conquest
(04:40):
of the world through theproclamation of the gospel.
Now the rider is on a whitehorse, with white being the
color most often associated withChrist, symbolizing spiritual
victory.
This rider on the white horseis also wearing a crown, so they
argue that it representsroyalty, and they make the
argument that this representsChrist's kingship and the
(05:02):
preaching of the gospel over thewhole earth during the end
times.
The writer also carries a bow,which is used by the prophets as
a metaphor for conquest, justas the sword was used as a
metaphor for war.
Now, when it says that thewriter went out conquering and
to conquer, the way that'swritten in the Greek.
It's a little bit odd.
(05:22):
It's the Greek phrase Nikon Kaikai hena nekise, which tells us
that the purpose of this rideris to go out and to prevail, to
conquer.
And so they argue that thegospel has indeed conquered,
that the gospel is victoriousand nothing can stop its march
throughout the world and it willovercome any opposition that it
(05:44):
faces.
March throughout the world andit will overcome any opposition
that it faces.
Now, this is the firstinterpretation of the white
horse and its rider.
But, remember, many people havean entirely different
interpretation of this rider.
As I mentioned, they believethe rider on the white horse is
not Jesus at all, but that itactually represents the
Antichrist.
They argue that this rider onthe white horse is a parody of
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Jesus, who later will be ridinga white horse, and that this
beast, or Antichrist will useweapons to conquer the kingdoms
of the world.
This use of weaponry, it's seenin the fact that the rider is
holding a bow, which again is asymbol of conquest.
Another thing adherents of thisview point to is the crown that
(06:25):
this first rider is wearing.
Remember, john says its riderhad a bow and a crown was given
to him.
Now, the word for crown that'sused here is the Greek word
Stephanos.
It refers to a garland or likea circlet that was usually made
from some natural materials likeleaves or flowers.
In ancient Greece it was usedto honor victims in games like
(06:49):
the Olympics or othercelebrations.
It symbolized victory or honor.
In Revelation 19, 11, and 12,where we see the other rider on
a white horse, which is no doubtJesus, it says Then I saw
heaven open and behold a whitehorse.
The one sitting on it is calledFaithful and True and in
righteousness he judges andmakes war.
(07:10):
His eyes are like a flame offire and on his head are many
diadems.
Diadem is another, a differentGreek word for crown, but this
word specifically refers to aroyal crown, as in a symbol of
royalty or a sovereign monarch.
And so the point is that theseare not the same types of crowns
(07:31):
described here in Revelation 6as we see Jesus wearing in
Revelation 19.
The crown worn by the riderhere in chapter 6, it's not a
legitimate crown of sovereignty,but a crown acquired through
conquest.
One other comparison to therider on the white horse here
versus the rider in Revelation19.
Here the rider carries a bow,but in Revelation 19,.
(07:55):
That rider, who again we knowis Jesus, fights with a sword,
but we'll talk more about thatwhen we get there.
Another point that's made abouttrying to interpret the rider of
the white horse here as Jesusis to simply look at the company
that's with him.
We haven't gotten to the otherthree riders yet, but, trust me,
they're bad news and terriblethings are coming.
(08:16):
And so some people say it seemsa bit awkward to place Jesus as
one of these four riders whenyou see all the destruction
that's coming in their wake.
And furthermore, they will alsoargue that Jesus is the one
opening the seals, he's the onebringing all of this about, he
is calling these riders forthand so it doesn't make any sense
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that he would call forthhimself.
And so we see, in the firstrider on the white horse, the
most likely interpretation isthat it represents war and a
warlike conqueror is on his way.
Which brings us now to thesecond seal and the second rider
, which John describes in verses3 and 4, saying when he opened
(08:57):
the second seal, I heard thesecond living creature say Come
and rider this one on a redhorse.
So right after the first rideron the white horse, who
(09:22):
represents conquest.
We see here a clear suggestionof bloodshed.
Conquest is followed bybloodshed, and we'll see in a
moment that those two will befollowed by famine and then
economic destabilization.
But the rider on the red horsepresents sort of a gruesome
image.
The red described here uses theGreek word puros, and it's a
(09:45):
fiery, flame-colored red.
But the writer here will takepeace from the earth.
John tells us that its writerwas permitted to take peace from
the earth so that people shouldslay one another, and he was
given a great sword, and so thered color is perhaps a reference
to all the blood that will beshed.
John tells us he was permittedto take peace from the earth.
(10:07):
Well, if you don't have peace,what do you have?
You have war, and so this isnot necessarily depicting a
scene where the writer himselfis roaming about killing people,
because it says that he takesaway peace from the earth so
that people should slay oneanother.
In other words, it's not thewriter necessarily killing the
(10:27):
people himself, but peoplekilling one another, and
humanity's been doing that sincethe dawn of time, haven't we
Going all the way back to Cain?
And sadly, war is one of thecharacteristics of human history
.
But when he says that peopleshould slay one another.
That word slay, that's theGreek word spazo, and it means
(10:48):
to slay, to slaughter, butcheror to put to death by violence
and savagery, and so it's fairlyclear that this is a reference
to a warlike environment withpeople butchering one another.
John also says that the writerwas given a great sword and once
again let me reference theGreek here, because sometimes
the details paint a clearerpicture in your mind.
(11:10):
But the word used here forsword is makera.
Now, this doesn't refer to whatwe sometimes think of when we
think of a sword.
It's not a sword like you thinkof when you picture the three
musketeers or that's used intypical sword fights, and it's
also not a broad sword, the typethat's about three feet long
and broad and curved at the end,like you sometimes might
(11:31):
associate with Arabia.
This word is referring to amuch smaller sword.
It's about 18 inches long,something much closer to like a
dagger or a large knife.
It's the kind that assassinswould most often use or that
soldiers would often carry intobattle.
Now, just so you're aware, andin case you're interested, there
are some who interpret the redhorse and the sword much
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differently.
For example, some prophecyteachers, people like Hal
Lindsey, for example.
They interpret the red horse asbeing Russia and the large
sword as representing theawesome power of nuclear war,
that sort of thing.
Now I'm not getting intoend-time prophecy conjectures
here.
I'll leave that for Hal Lindseyand John Hagee and whoever else
(12:13):
you find to listen tospecifically for that.
I just wanted to mention it,just so you're aware.
But regardless of whichinterpretation is correct, what
we can agree on is that therider on the red horse is bad
news for people of the earth.
It represents war and bloodshed.
People are going to beslaughtered.
There will be an untold amountof bloodshed because in the Old
(12:36):
Testament alone, the sword it'sused over a hundred times as an
idiom representing the judgmentof war and violent death.
But Jesus told us In Matthew 24, when the disciples asked him
about the signs of his comingand the end of the age, jesus
answered them and said and youwill hear of wars and rumors of
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wars.
See that you are not alarmed,for this must take place, but
the end is not yet, for nationwill rise against nation and
kingdom against kingdom.
One other thing that'snoteworthy here the color red in
Revelation.
It seems to be associated withsomething that's feared, with
terror and death, whether it'sthe red horse here or later on,
(13:18):
when we see the great red dragonin chapter 12, or the red beast
in chapter 17.
I just want to alert you tothat for future reference as we
move through the book.
But John continues as Jesus nowopens the third seal, saying in
verses 5 and 6, and when heopened the third seal, I heard
the third living creature sayCome, and I looked and behold a
(13:40):
black horse and its rider had apair of scales in his hand and I
heard what seemed to be a voicein the midst of the third seal
brings forth the third horse andits rider, but this time it's a
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black horse.
Now, in ancient times, thecolor black had this special
negative connotation because itwas often associated with
darkness or death.
In fact, it still carries someof that symbolism even today.
But as we'll see, this blackhorse doesn't represent death
itself, but is definitely acontributing factor to the death
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that will follow.
Now we're told that the riderhere is carrying a pair of
scales and a voice cries out aquart of wheat for a denarius
and three quarts of barley for adenarius, and do not harm the
oil and wine.
Well, what in the world is thatall about?
Well, the balance, or scale,was normally used in the
marketplace to weigh out theamount of food a person could
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buy for the going rate, and so,in short, this third rider is
ushering in economic hardshipsand famine conditions.
A voice cried out a quart ofwheat for a denarius.
Now, this quart or sometimesyou'll see it translated measure
of wheat, it's not that much,and it says that you can buy a
quart of wheat for a denarius.
(15:03):
A denarius at this time itrepresented the wages that would
be paid to a laborer per day.
That was the pay.
You work.
All day you get a denarius.
So what this meant was that,for a day of labor, you would
earn just enough to buy onequart of wheat, which would feed
you for the day.
But what if you had a wife tosupport?
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What if you had a family?
Then you couldn't buy enoughwheat to feed everyone.
But remember, the voice thatcried out also says that you
could buy three quarts of barleyfor a denarius.
So, for that same price, onedenarius, instead of buying one
quart of wheat, a laborer couldalso buy three quarts of barley.
So if a person had a family tosupport, they would be forced to
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purchase the barley instead ofthe wheat.
Not only that, but dependingupon how large your family was,
even if you were buying barley,you were going to be eating less
of it, simply because therewouldn't be as much for each
person in the family.
As a result, people wouldquickly become undernourished
and would be susceptible todeadly diseases.
And, considering the averagefamily size at that time, many
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of the younger children inpoorer regions they would die or
suffer from malnutrition.
And these famine conditions area natural consequence of the
previous two riders that we saw,bringing with them war and
conquest and tremendousbloodshed.
Famine and pestilence oftenaccompany war, but what we also
see here is significant priceinflation, possibly even some
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sort of hyperinflation scenariowhere wheat and barley now cost
anywhere from 5 to 15 times thenormal price.
Not only that, but wheat andbarley were the staple food
items in Roman society, so thescarcity and high price of those
items means that food was hardto come by.
And again, these are the typesof situations that follow war
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and widespread death.
But the writer says somethinginteresting after announcing the
price of staple food items, andhe says and do not harm the oil
and wine.
Well, what does that mean?
Well, there are a couple ofdifferent thoughts on this.
First, there's the thought thatin ancient Mediterranean
warfare, there was this practiceof destroying the crops in the
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field of the enemy, but notdestroying the vines and the
olive trees.
The thought was that bydestroying the wheat and the
barley, even as their conquerors, you would experience hardship
for about a year, or at leastuntil the next harvest came.
But destroying vines and olivetrees, that would result in a
more long-term hardship, becausethey took much longer to grow.
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Olive trees took about 15 yearsto grow, and so what's the
point in conquering the land ifyou were going to experience
these long-term difficulties?
But another thought around notharming the oil and the wine is
that the message is beingconveyed that these luxury items
will still exist even thoughthere's widespread famine.
In other words, the oil and thewine will not be in short
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supply, but most people won't beable to afford them.
They'll be spending all oftheir money on trying to just
buy enough to feed themselvesand their families.
There's no way they're going tobe buying anything not
considered staple food items,and so what this shows is that
in some ways, at least in thearea of food, the rich will not
be impacted like the majority ofthe people will be.
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They'll still enjoy their oilsand wines.
And you know, regardless of thehistorical time period that you
look at, throughout history andeven today, the rich are always
going to be less impacted byinflationary pressures than the
poor are.
That's just simple economics.
They have the money and themeans to pay more for those
basic items, and the same thingis true today for wealthy people
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.
It doesn't matter how much milkand bread and gas go up.
They're not impacted like themasses are, and so they might be
able to avoid some of the painassociated with this extreme
inflation.
That's described, but it saysnothing about them avoiding the
conqueror and war and beingkilled with the onset of the
first two riders.
And so what we see here withthe third rider is that war is
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followed by famine and death.
And if you've somehow managedto survive through the first
three riders, then hold on,because the fourth rider is now
on the way, as John continues inverses 7 and 8, saying when he
had opened the fourth seal, Iheard the voice of the fourth
living creature say Come, and Ilooked and behold a pale horse
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and its rider's name was Death,and Hades followed him, and they
were given authority over afourth of the earth to kill with
the sword and with famine andwith pestilence, and by wild
beasts of the earth.
Now this may be the mostfrightening of the four horses,
the pale horse whose rider'sname was Death.
Now we read here that the colorof the horse was pale, but the
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actual word used in the Greekfor the color of the horse is
chloros.
It's where we get our wordchlorophyll.
It means green, but it's notreferring to a healthy green
color of grass that you maythink of.
This is referring to a palegreen, a sickly color.
It's associated with the facesof the sick or the color of a
corpse, the sort of yellowish,pale color.
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Some argue that it's the colorof leprosy described in the book
of Leviticus, but it should beconsidered the color of a corpse
.
And, more importantly, is therider who sits upon the horse,
because his name is Death andHades follows him.
It's interesting that the firstthree riders each had some sort
of symbol or emblem.
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The first rider carried a bow,the second carried a sword, the
rider of the black horse carriedscales, but this rider is death
, and he doesn't need an emblemor a sign, which definitely
lends credibility to thisdeathly ghastly color of the
horse, because it's the color ofdeath.
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Now, this death may come as aresult of the culmination of the
first three riders, but ifthose alone weren't enough, this
rider is given power over afourth of the earth to kill with
the sword and with famine, andwith pestilence and by wild
beast of the earth.
And a fourth of the earth,that's a lot of people.
If the current population is 8billion people, are we talking
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about 2 billion people here?
And so, just when you think itcan't get much worse, it does.
Because not only does thiswriter continue the killing by
the sword and famine, he alsoadds to it death by pestilence
and by the wild beast of theearth.
Now, before I forget, it'simportant to note who follows
death here Hades.
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John says the writer's name wasDeath and Hades followed him.
Death and Hades appear to be inpartnership here.
And remember, it says that theywere given the authority over
one-fourth of the earth.
Well, who's granting them thisauthority?
God is Death and Hades are notoperating on their own.
They represent God's judgmenton the earth.
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Now, the word Hades is atranslation of the Hebrew word
Sheol, which in the OldTestament often refers to the
realm of the dead, and there'sthis thought that death claims
the body but Hades claims thesoul.
And so what we see with thesefour riders the four horsemen of
the apocalypse, as they'recalled is that they are
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essentially four agents of death, each bringing an additional
component as we see death by thesword, famine, pestilence and
beasts of the earth.
And I would point out heresomething that may not be
immediately obvious, butsomething worth considering Some
of the most dangerous beasts inthe world are microscopic.
But even though we've coveredthe first four horses and their
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riders, the four horsemen, we'renot done yet.
We still have more seals toopen.
We'll see two more seals openedin this chapter, and so John
continues in verses 9 through 11, saying when he opened the
fifth seal, I saw under thealtar the souls of those who had
been slain for the word of Godand for the witness they had
borne.
They cried out with a loud voiceO sovereign Lord, holy and true
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, how long before you will judgeand avenge our blood on those
who dwell on the earth?
Then they were each given awhite robe and told to rest a
little longer until the numberof their fellow servants and
their brothers should becomplete, who were to be killed,
as they themselves had been.
And so the fifth seal bringssomething different than the
first four did.
The first four brought horsesand riders, but with the fifth
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seal, john sees under the altarthe souls of those who had been
slain for the word of God andfor the witness they had borne.
These were people who were putto death because of their
devotion to Jesus.
These are martyrs who havesuffered under the persecution
of people hostile to the messageof Jesus Christ, and they're
crying out to God forvindication, for justice.
(23:48):
Now John sees them under analtar, but that's most likely a
reference to the place wherepriests in the Old Testament
would pour the blood of theirsacrifices, and the thought is
that these martyrs share inChrist's suffering and sacrifice
.
They were, in a way, sacrificesoffered to God, and even though
they were slain on earth, theirsacrifice was really impacting
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heaven, where their souls wereoffered at the heavenly altar.
In the meantime, they're givenwhite robes, which we've already
discussed represents theirrighteousness, and they're told
to wait a little longer, whichis an undetermined amount of
time, especially consideringthat God's not limited to time.
But notice that John doesn'tsee the bodies of those that
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were killed.
He sees their souls, and sothis reference to souls likely
points to an intermediate state,maybe a period of time before
the believers will be raisedfrom the dead, a sort of an
interval when they'll existapart from their bodies.
And John says they were peoplewho were slain for the word of
God and for the witness they hadborne.
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And that word used for slain isthe same Greek word we looked
at before, which meansslaughtered, butchered or put to
death by violence.
The Lamb, jesus Christ, wasslaughtered, and these people
were also slaughtered.
They were slaughtered becausethey held to God's word and the
witness of Christ.
The Roman historian Tacitustells us that under the Roman
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emperor Nero, christians weretorn apart by wild animals, they
were nailed to crosses, theywere used as human torches to
light the streets, or they weredoomed to the flames and burnt.
And all of this they sufferedfor their testimony of Jesus.
I wonder if we would have hadthat same courage in those times
.
I mean, it's easy to say thatwe would have, especially
(25:38):
looking back from the comfort ofour lives in America in modern
times.
But what if you were literallyrisking your life and the life
of your family?
What if you were in certainparts of the world, even today,
where you're literally stillrisking your life?
Many people won't even riskoffending someone with their
belief in Jesus, and so it'shard to imagine that sort of
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timidity and cowardice actuallyrisking their lives for their
beliefs.
All too often it just seems likewe just don't have the appetite
for potentially suffering forour faith.
We become too comfortable withour lives in the West, and one
of the dangers of becoming toocomfortable is that you also
stop growing.
You become soft, and we shouldnever become too comfortable
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with the world.
This isn't our home.
But that brings us back totheir question how long, lord,
until we're vindicated?
And what was the answer?
To rest a little while longer,until the number of their fellow
servants and their brothersshould be complete, who were to
be killed, as they themselveshad been.
In other words, there are moremartyrs coming.
(26:41):
There are more believers whowill also give their lives for
their testimony of God.
Their faith will cost themtheir lives, and you think you
have it rough because someonemight be offended.
So how long, lord?
You know it may be, and I'mconvinced that it is the case.
You know it may be and I'mconvinced that it is the case,
that God knows perfectly thetiming of and the events that
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will ultimately produce thegreatest number of believers to
be saved and enter into eternityin heaven.
But we continue as Jesus nowopens the sixth seal and John
describes what he saw in thelast six verses of the chapter,
with verses 12 through 17,saying when he opened the sixth
(27:25):
seal, I looked and behold therewas a great earthquake and the
sun became black as sackcloth,the full moon became like blood
and the stars of the sky fell tothe earth as the fig tree sheds
its winter fruit.
When shaken by a gale, the skyvanished like a scroll that's
being rolled up.
The sky vanished like a scrollthat's being rolled up.
So John sees Jesus open thesixth seal, which is quickly
bringing things to an end.
We're at the doorstep of theend of history.
(27:48):
The world as we know it iscoming to an end.
And John begins by describing agreat earthquake and the sun
becoming black as sackcloth, thefull moon becoming like blood.
So how are we to understandwhat John's describing here?
Well, ancient texts sometimesincluded colorful or exaggerated
language regarding earthquakes,saying that they could make
(28:10):
mountains move.
But this earthquake, it doesn'tappear to be an exaggeration
like that.
This is referencing theclimactic earthquake that
signals the end and that trulydoes move mountains.
And we discussed in the earlychapters of Revelation that
there were ancient cities thathad actually been devastated by
earthquakes, and so for them.
These words must have beenespecially troublesome, but we
(28:33):
see in Revelation that anearthquake in the Greek the word
seismos, where we get our wordseismic it seems to always point
to the end of history and inthe Old Testament it often
signaled God's judgment.
But in addition to a greatearthquake, john says that the
sun became black as sackclothand the full moon became like
blood.
(28:53):
And this is just like theprophet Joel described in the
Old Testament, in Joel 2.31,when he said the sun will be
turned to darkness and the moonto blood before the great and
terrible or awesome day of theLord comes.
In Acts 2.20, peter delivers asermon at Pentecost and he says
the sun shall be turned todarkness and the moon to blood
(29:15):
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
In Isaiah 13, speaking toBabylon and their pending
judgment, isaiah says Behold,the day of the Lord comes, cruel
, with wrath and fierce anger,to make the land a desolation
and to destroy its sinners fromit, for the stars of the heavens
(29:36):
and their constellations willnot give their light, the sun
will be dark at its rising andthe moon will not shed its light
.
I will punish the world for itsevil and the wicked for their
iniquity.
Now, one of the things someprophecy buffs like to do is
look for signs and predict someof those end time events, and
they'll look for and attempt tomake something out of the blood
(29:57):
moons.
For example, john Hagee wrote abook titled Four Blood Moons.
Something is about to change.
It became a bestseller, whichtells you that people have an
interest in this sort of thing.
When the Pharisees and theSadducees came to Jesus and
demanded a sign from heaven,jesus said to them when it's
evening, you say it'll be fairweather, for the sky is red, and
(30:19):
in the morning it will be fairweather, for the sky is red, and
in the morning it will bestormy.
Today, for the sky is red andthreatening.
You know how to interpret theappearance of the sky, but you
cannot interpret the signs ofthe times.
So Jesus implies here that weshould be able to look around us
and see the signs of the times,the social and political and
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religious trends that we see.
But I think we can maybe alsotake that a bit too far in
constantly looking for thingslike blood moons, the fourth
blood moon, planetary alignmentsand whatever other heavenly
occurrences we can think of.
That might be indicative ofsome ancient prophecy, and I
certainly don't think it shouldbe the primary thrust of any
ministry, because the reality.
Reality is that a quote bloodmoon it's simply a term that's
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sometimes used to describe atotal lunar eclipse where the
moon appears reddish in color.
And so it's just a scenariowhere the sun, earth and moon
are aligned and the earth movesbetween the sun and the moon,
casting its shadow on the moon.
The red color comes from theearth's atmosphere.
As sunlight passes through theearth's atmosphere, it gets
refracted.
I mean this is why we seesunsets and sunrises with that
(31:25):
reddish color.
And so during a total lunareclipse, only that red light
gets refracted around the earthand onto the moon, giving it
that reddish appearance.
Now the reason I say that isbecause it's not necessarily God
actually turning the moon intoa blood-red color, it's just
that it appears that way in thenight sky, and if that's the
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case, there are other ways thatthat can occur.
It may be that what's describedhere by John has another
explanation.
It could be that the greatearthquake that's described here
it's so massive that it impactsthe Earth's great fault lines,
like the San Andreas Fault inCalifornia or the so-called Ring
of Fire in Japan.
If this were to happen, itwould result in a cataclysmic
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global earthquake that wouldalso give rise to the eruption
of numerous volcanoes.
These volcanoes would spewmassive amounts of volcanic ash
and debris into the atmosphere,which would appear to blacken
the sun and give the moon sortof a blood red color.
Now, I'm not saying that's whatwill happen, but that's a very
real possibility, and so,although it can get interesting
(32:31):
for those people interested inthose sorts of things, I
wouldn't waste too much timetrying to predict how and when
this will occur.
All I know for certain is thatthe Lord's return is one day
closer today than it wasyesterday.
Now we touched on the greatearthquake, the sun becoming
black and the moon becoming likeblood.
But I also want to touch onverses 13 and 14, where John
(32:53):
says and the stars of the skyfell to the earth as fig trees
shed its winter fruit.
When, shaken by a gale, the skyvanished, like a scroll that is
being rolled up Becauseskeptics point to these two
verses as being physicallyimpossible, and so they try to
discredit the Bible.
Well, first, if you know muchabout astronomy, you know that a
(33:14):
star is simply another sun.
Our sun is considered amedium-sized main sequence star,
but the problem is that it's1.3 million times larger than
the earth.
So how could multiple starsfall to the earth?
It doesn't make any sense froma purely physical and scientific
perspective.
Well, there are a couple ofdifferent options to consider.
(33:35):
One is that, if you remember,in Revelation 1.16, we saw that
Jesus held in his right handseven stars and we discussed
that those stars were referringto angels.
Now, when we get to Revelation12, we'll read about war
breaking out in heaven, withMichael and his angels fighting
against Satan and his angels.
(33:56):
Satan is defeated and, as aresult, there's no longer a
place for him in heaven.
Satan and his angels are castout of heaven, thrown down to
the earth.
But in Revelation 12, verse 12,it tells us therefore, rejoice,
o heavens and you who dwell inthem, but woe to you, o earth
and sea, for the devil has comedown to you in great wrath
(34:19):
because he knows that his timeis short, and so it could be
that the stars falling from thesky described here in chapter 6
are an allusion to the angelswho fell from heaven.
In other words, we don't have aphysical or a scientific
problem at all.
We just need to understand whatthe text is actually telling us
.
Now there are some who willargue that the Greek word for
(34:40):
stars that's used here can alsorefer to celestial bodies in a
broader sense, and so they arguethat the best explanation is
that this is actually referringto a large asteroid or meteor
shower.
Now, another line of thoughtthat some have to interpret what
John is describing here is anuclear war.
Nuclear explosions wouldtrigger earthquakes and, and the
(35:01):
result in smoke and debriswould darken the sun and cause
the moon to appear red.
And they argue that thefollowing stars described by
John are actually nuclear bombsplummeting toward the earth.
And finally, there are alsothose who argue that this entire
line of description used byJohn it's symbolic meaning.
(35:21):
The symbols he utilizes arewritten symbolically, but
they're used to represent agenuine reality of what's to
happen.
And so, for example, when hedescribes great earthquakes,
mountains, moving stars fallingfrom the sky, the sky being
rolled up, etc.
He's using this symboliclanguage to describe the reality
of the unprecedented upheavaland the disruption that will
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take place in the world, becauseit's unlike anything that's
ever been seen Social, political, governmental, all incomplete
and utter chaos.
In other words, the language issymbolic, but it's pointing us
to the end of the world as weknow it.
The physical world is fallingapart, all institutions are
dissolving.
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Life as we know it is over.
It reminds me of what Jesussaid in Matthew 24, 22.
Except, those days should beshortened, there should be no
flesh be saved, but for the sakeof the elect, those days shall
be shortened.
But before we move on, I doalso want to touch on verse 14,
(36:27):
where John says that the skyvanished like a scroll that is
being rolled up.
Because I find that particularverse very interesting, and let
me tell you why.
Before we dismiss this verse asbeing purely metaphoric or
symbolic language, consider thisthe current consensus of most
physicists and astronomers,based on a variety of evidence,
leads them to believe that theuniverse is flat, and it's
(36:49):
interesting that in places likeJob, psalms, isaiah and others,
that God is described as quotestretching out the heavens like
a tent curtain.
We see this mentioned more than15 times.
Stretching out the heavens likea tent curtain we see this
mentioned more than 15 times.
We're told in other places thatthe heavens can be worn out
like a garment.
They can be torn, rolled uplike a scroll, which is exactly
(37:10):
what our modern science tells usas they refer to this fabric of
space.
Space is not some empty vacuum.
But here's the point If spaceis a fabric that can be rolled
up, then there must be adirection it can be rolled
towards.
Think of a scroll that you'rerolling up.
It must be bent towards somedirection.
So if space can be rolled up,there must be some other
(37:34):
dimension it can be rolledtowards.
Now, science tells us that welive in four dimensions Length,
width, height and time, which werefer to as space-time.
But even though we experiencelife in these four dimensions,
modern science believes that welive in at least 10 dimensions,
possibly 11, depending onwhether you're talking about
string theory or M-theory.
(37:55):
In other words, we live in andexperience four dimensions, but
there are actually at least 10.
But these are inaccessible tous right now because they're
wound up so tightly and they'reso small.
Bottom line, there areadditional dimensions of space,
and it sounds like something outof a science fiction movie.
But truth is often stranger thanfiction, and I believe God has
(38:18):
sometimes given people a sort ofpeek behind the curtain in
being able to access anotherdimension Without bringing any
modern examples into it.
Consider the biblical exampleof Elisha in 2 Kings.
When Elisha's servant got up inthe morning, he saw the city
surrounded by an enemy force,which caused him to panic.
But Elisha remained calm and hereplied don't be afraid, those
(38:42):
who are with us are more thanthose who are with them.
Elisha then prayed Open hiseyes, lord, so that he may see.
And the Lord answered Elisha'sprayer, and the servants' eyes
were opened to see the hillsfull of horses and chariots of
fire all around Elisha,revealing God's protective army.
And so was this a case of Godgranting someone to see a
(39:04):
glimpse beyond our fourdimensions and into another.
I mean, why can't we always seeangels?
Why can't we see demons?
Where exactly is the spiritworld?
I mean, is some of this locatedin these other dimensions that
scientists believe exist butthat we just can't access?
And so I mention all of thatjust to help you think through
some of what John is describing.
(39:25):
Maybe some of it is symboliclanguage and some of it is very
literal.
But getting back to the text athand, we finish with the last
three verses, verses 15 through17, which read Then the kings of
the earth and the great onesand the generals and the rich
and the powerful and everyone,slave and free, hid themselves
(39:45):
in the caves and among the rocksof the mountains, calling to
the mountains, and the rocksFall on us and hide us from the
face of him who is seated on thethrone, and from the wrath of
the Lamb, for the great day oftheir wrath has come.
And who can stand?
And so what we see beingdescribed here is an inescapable
judgment of God's wrath.
It doesn't matter who you areor what station in life you hold
(40:08):
, from the supposed elites ofsociety to those on the bottom
rung, judgment is at hand, andwe know God is not a respecter
of persons.
And I think it's telling thatGod first mentions the elites
who think they're secure intheir positions or status here
on earth.
And if you remember what we'vementioned in earlier episodes
about the number seven, that itrepresents perfection or
(40:31):
completeness, isn't itinteresting that there are seven
groups of people mentioned here, which points to a complete and
universal judgment of theungodly in the world?
Count them again if you wantthe kings of the earth, the
great ones, the generals, therich, the powerful, slaves and
free.
Nobody gets a pass.
God doesn't care about yourlofty position in society here
(40:55):
on earth because he's king, butneither is he interested in your
lowly position as a reason oran excuse to turn a blind eye to
your ungodliness.
One thing to keep in mind hereJesus isn't coming to simply
bring an end to this currentworld, but to judge the world,
and I'm not sure we have a realgrasp of what that will be like.
But Jesus told us in Matthew 24, for as were the days of Noah,
(41:20):
so will be the coming of the Sonof man.
For as in those days before theflood, they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving inmarriage until the day when
Noah entered the ark, and theywere unaware until the flood
came and swept them all away, sowill be the coming of the Son
of man.
But one thing we do see here isthat it strikes terror into
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people, so much so that they tryto hide themselves in caves and
in the rocks of mountains.
They cry out and beg the rocksof the mountains to fall on them
and save them from the wrath ofthe Lamb.
They're more afraid of God thanthey are of death.
And the prophet Malachi askedbut who can endure the day of
his coming and who can standwhen he appears?
(42:03):
You see, they realize there'sno escape, but they would rather
be killed like this than toface divine anger and judgment.
So they cry out to themountains to fall on them to
hide them from the presence ofGod and the Lamb.
They're terrified because theycannot stand before a holy God.
You know, I often hear skepticstrying to argue that the mean,
(42:26):
wrathful, vengeful God of theOld Testament is much different
than the peaceful, loving,turn-the-other-cheek Jesus of
the New Testament.
Well, they obviously don't knowthe Bible very well and they
certainly haven't studiedRevelation.
Some people are just unwillingto pay the price to learn what
the Bible actually says.
(42:46):
But one of the most importanttakeaways from Revelation is
that God will vindicate thesaints and the world will
recognize the God they'verejected.
You know, billy Grahamstruggled over the years with
whether he had preached what'scalled a cheap grace and he
(43:10):
asked.
Well, nobody will have to worryabout that when Jesus returns.
The day of reckoning has comeand there is no exception,
there's no escape.
Jesus came the first time asthe Lamb of God, but he'll
(43:45):
return as the Lion of Judah.
Let the lightning roar Hail,hail, lion of Judah.
Let the lightning roar Hail,hail Lion of roll, roll, roll,
(44:07):
roll, roll, roll, roll, roll,roll, roll roll.
Well, thank you once again for listening to this
Bible Study Podcast.
I'm Randy Duncan and we'reabout to enter into a new phase
of Revelation, as we now tacklechapter 6.
In the first three chapters, wecovered the seven letters to
the seven churches in Asia Minor.
Chapter 4 was a scene from thethrone room in heaven, and in
the last chapter, we covered theseven letters to the seven
churches in Asia Minor.
Chapter four was a scene fromthe throne room in heaven, and
in the last chapter, we coveredthe scroll and the lamb.
(00:31):
And so these first fivechapters have basically been
setting the scene for what willfollow.
And what follows, beginning withthis chapter, is what most
people think of when they thinkabout Revelation, is what most
people think of when they thinkabout Revelation.
What we see now is just as manypeople imagine, and, for lack
of a better term, all hell'sabout to break loose and be
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unleashed upon the earth.
Now we spent the last chapterdiscussing the scroll and its
seven seals, as well as the factthat the only person found
worthy to open the scroll wasJesus Christ.
And in this chapter, jesus willopen six of the seven seals.
And remember, john saw thatJesus went and he took the
scroll from the right hand ofhim, who was seated on the
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throne, which is where we pickup the action, as John continues
in verses one and two, sayingNow I watched when the Lamb
opened one of the seven sealsand open the first of the seals,
and you'll see that the firstfour seals share a common image,
(01:45):
which is that of a horse andits rider.
And so this is where we get thefamous four horsemen of the
apocalypse which represent andbring these terrifying judgments
.
The riders appear to be angelsof judgment, but their exact
identity it shouldn't be pressedtoo much.
More important is what theyrepresent and the judgment that
(02:06):
they bring.
And it's really amazing howshort and concise these first
four seals and the visions are,especially considering the
significance of what eachrepresents.
But we begin with the first seal, the first horse and its rider.
John says it was a white horse.
Now, this white horse and itsrider have spurred all sorts of
different interpretations, butthe two primary views I'll
(02:29):
discuss could not possibly beany more different, because one
interpretation sees the whitehorse as representing the
Antichrist, while the other seesit as representing Christ
himself.
So let's talk about this forjust a moment.
For those who see thisrepresenting Christ on the white
horse, they point to Revelation19, 11, which says Then I saw
(02:52):
heaven opened and behold a whitehorse.
The one sitting on it is calledFaithful and True, and in
righteousness he judges andmakes war.
Now that one is clearly anallusion to Jesus, as we'll see
when we get there.
But does that mean that thisrider on a white horse is also
Christ?
Well, others argue that no.
This isn't Jesus.
(03:13):
It's an imitation of Jesus, whois later referenced as being a
rider on a white horse.
In other words, this is theAntichrist doing what he does
best, trying to imitate Christ.
As Donald Gray Barnhouse says,he's going to seek to fulfill
the world's idea of what theMessiah should be, since the
world has rejected God's word asto what the Messiah must be,
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and it's sort of in line withSatan attempting to imitate God
and the Trinity.
With the Trinity we have theFather, the Son and the Holy
Spirit and with Satan's attemptto mimic the Trinity, you end up
with this unholy Trinity ofSatan, the Antichrist and the
false prophet.
And I find it interesting that,and as we've discussed, the
(03:59):
number seven is the number ofcompletion and perfection, the
number six representingsomething incomplete or
completion and perfection, thenumber 6 representing something
incomplete or less thanperfection.
And so with the Trinity youhave the number 777.
But with Satan's unholy Trinityyou end up with the number 666,
which we'll see later on is thenumber of the beast.
(04:19):
And so that's just anobservation there.
But getting back to those whobelieve this rider on the white
horse is Christ, remember, johnsaid Behold a white horse and
its rider had a bow and a crownwas given to him and he came out
conquering and to conquer.
So some people would argue thatthis symbolizes Jesus' conquest
(04:40):
of the world through theproclamation of the gospel.
Now the rider is on a whitehorse, with white being the
color most often associated withChrist, symbolizing spiritual
victory.
This rider on the white horseis also wearing a crown, so they
argue that it representsroyalty, and they make the
argument that this representsChrist's kingship and the
(05:02):
preaching of the gospel over thewhole earth during the end
times.
The writer also carries a bow,which is used by the prophets as
a metaphor for conquest, justas the sword was used as a
metaphor for war.
Now, when it says that thewriter went out conquering and
to conquer, the way that'swritten in the Greek.
It's a little bit odd.
(05:22):
It's the Greek phrase Nikon Kaikai hena nekise, which tells us
that the purpose of this rideris to go out and to prevail, to
conquer.
And so they argue that thegospel has indeed conquered,
that the gospel is victoriousand nothing can stop its march
throughout the world and it willovercome any opposition that it
(05:44):
faces.
March throughout the world andit will overcome any opposition
that it faces.
Now, this is the firstinterpretation of the white
horse and its rider.
But, remember, many people havean entirely different
interpretation of this rider.
As I mentioned, they believethe rider on the white horse is
not Jesus at all, but that itactually represents the
Antichrist.
They argue that this rider onthe white horse is a parody of
(06:05):
Jesus, who later will be ridinga white horse, and that this
beast, or Antichrist will useweapons to conquer the kingdoms
of the world.
This use of weaponry, it's seenin the fact that the rider is
holding a bow, which again is asymbol of conquest.
Another thing adherents of thisview point to is the crown that
(06:25):
this first rider is wearing.
Remember, john says its riderhad a bow and a crown was given
to him.
Now, the word for crown that'sused here is the Greek word
Stephanos.
It refers to a garland or likea circlet that was usually made
from some natural materials likeleaves or flowers.
In ancient Greece it was usedto honor victims in games like
(06:49):
the Olympics or othercelebrations.
It symbolized victory or honor.
In Revelation 19, 11, and 12,where we see the other rider on
a white horse, which is no doubtJesus, it says Then I saw
heaven open and behold a whitehorse.
The one sitting on it is calledFaithful and True and in
righteousness he judges andmakes war.
(07:10):
His eyes are like a flame offire and on his head are many
diadems.
Diadem is another, a differentGreek word for crown, but this
word specifically refers to aroyal crown, as in a symbol of
royalty or a sovereign monarch.
And so the point is that theseare not the same types of crowns
(07:31):
described here in Revelation 6as we see Jesus wearing in
Revelation 19.
The crown worn by the riderhere in chapter 6, it's not a
legitimate crown of sovereignty,but a crown acquired through
conquest.
One other comparison to therider on the white horse here
versus the rider in Revelation19.
Here the rider carries a bow,but in Revelation 19,.
(07:55):
That rider, who again we knowis Jesus, fights with a sword,
but we'll talk more about thatwhen we get there.
Another point that's made abouttrying to interpret the rider of
the white horse here as Jesusis to simply look at the company
that's with him.
We haven't gotten to the otherthree riders yet, but, trust me,
they're bad news and terriblethings are coming.
(08:16):
And so some people say it seemsa bit awkward to place Jesus as
one of these four riders whenyou see all the destruction
that's coming in their wake.
And furthermore, they will alsoargue that Jesus is the one
opening the seals, he's the onebringing all of this about, he
is calling these riders forthand so it doesn't make any sense
(08:37):
that he would call forthhimself.
And so we see, in the firstrider on the white horse, the
most likely interpretation isthat it represents war and a
warlike conqueror is on his way.
Which brings us now to thesecond seal and the second rider
, which John describes in verses3 and 4, saying when he opened
(08:57):
the second seal, I heard thesecond living creature say Come
and rider this one on a redhorse.
So right after the first rideron the white horse, who
(09:22):
represents conquest.
We see here a clear suggestionof bloodshed.
Conquest is followed bybloodshed, and we'll see in a
moment that those two will befollowed by famine and then
economic destabilization.
But the rider on the red horsepresents sort of a gruesome
image.
The red described here uses theGreek word puros, and it's a
(09:45):
fiery, flame-colored red.
But the writer here will takepeace from the earth.
John tells us that its writerwas permitted to take peace from
the earth so that people shouldslay one another, and he was
given a great sword, and so thered color is perhaps a reference
to all the blood that will beshed.
John tells us he was permittedto take peace from the earth.
(10:07):
Well, if you don't have peace,what do you have?
You have war, and so this isnot necessarily depicting a
scene where the writer himselfis roaming about killing people,
because it says that he takesaway peace from the earth so
that people should slay oneanother.
In other words, it's not thewriter necessarily killing the
(10:27):
people himself, but peoplekilling one another, and
humanity's been doing that sincethe dawn of time, haven't we
Going all the way back to Cain?
And sadly, war is one of thecharacteristics of human history
.
But when he says that peopleshould slay one another.
That word slay, that's theGreek word spazo, and it means
(10:48):
to slay, to slaughter, butcheror to put to death by violence
and savagery, and so it's fairlyclear that this is a reference
to a warlike environment withpeople butchering one another.
John also says that the writerwas given a great sword and once
again let me reference theGreek here, because sometimes
the details paint a clearerpicture in your mind.
(11:10):
But the word used here forsword is makera.
Now, this doesn't refer to whatwe sometimes think of when we
think of a sword.
It's not a sword like you thinkof when you picture the three
musketeers or that's used intypical sword fights, and it's
also not a broad sword, the typethat's about three feet long
and broad and curved at the end,like you sometimes might
(11:31):
associate with Arabia.
This word is referring to amuch smaller sword.
It's about 18 inches long,something much closer to like a
dagger or a large knife.
It's the kind that assassinswould most often use or that
soldiers would often carry intobattle.
Now, just so you're aware, andin case you're interested, there
are some who interpret the redhorse and the sword much
(11:52):
differently.
For example, some prophecyteachers, people like Hal
Lindsey, for example.
They interpret the red horse asbeing Russia and the large
sword as representing theawesome power of nuclear war,
that sort of thing.
Now I'm not getting intoend-time prophecy conjectures
here.
I'll leave that for Hal Lindseyand John Hagee and whoever else
(12:13):
you find to listen tospecifically for that.
I just wanted to mention it,just so you're aware.
But regardless of whichinterpretation is correct, what
we can agree on is that therider on the red horse is bad
news for people of the earth.
It represents war and bloodshed.
People are going to beslaughtered.
There will be an untold amountof bloodshed because in the Old
(12:36):
Testament alone, the sword it'sused over a hundred times as an
idiom representing the judgmentof war and violent death.
But Jesus told us In Matthew 24, when the disciples asked him
about the signs of his comingand the end of the age, jesus
answered them and said and youwill hear of wars and rumors of
(12:56):
wars.
See that you are not alarmed,for this must take place, but
the end is not yet, for nationwill rise against nation and
kingdom against kingdom.
One other thing that'snoteworthy here the color red in
Revelation.
It seems to be associated withsomething that's feared, with
terror and death, whether it'sthe red horse here or later on,
(13:18):
when we see the great red dragonin chapter 12, or the red beast
in chapter 17.
I just want to alert you tothat for future reference as we
move through the book.
But John continues as Jesus nowopens the third seal, saying in
verses 5 and 6, and when heopened the third seal, I heard
the third living creature sayCome, and I looked and behold a
(13:40):
black horse and its rider had apair of scales in his hand and I
heard what seemed to be a voicein the midst of the third seal
brings forth the third horse andits rider, but this time it's a
(14:02):
black horse.
Now, in ancient times, thecolor black had this special
negative connotation because itwas often associated with
darkness or death.
In fact, it still carries someof that symbolism even today.
But as we'll see, this blackhorse doesn't represent death
itself, but is definitely acontributing factor to the death
(14:22):
that will follow.
Now we're told that the riderhere is carrying a pair of
scales and a voice cries out aquart of wheat for a denarius
and three quarts of barley for adenarius, and do not harm the
oil and wine.
Well, what in the world is thatall about?
Well, the balance, or scale,was normally used in the
marketplace to weigh out theamount of food a person could
(14:43):
buy for the going rate, and so,in short, this third rider is
ushering in economic hardshipsand famine conditions.
A voice cried out a quart ofwheat for a denarius.
Now, this quart or sometimesyou'll see it translated measure
of wheat, it's not that much,and it says that you can buy a
quart of wheat for a denarius.
(15:03):
A denarius at this time itrepresented the wages that would
be paid to a laborer per day.
That was the pay.
You work.
All day you get a denarius.
So what this meant was that,for a day of labor, you would
earn just enough to buy onequart of wheat, which would feed
you for the day.
But what if you had a wife tosupport?
(15:23):
What if you had a family?
Then you couldn't buy enoughwheat to feed everyone.
But remember, the voice thatcried out also says that you
could buy three quarts of barleyfor a denarius.
So, for that same price, onedenarius, instead of buying one
quart of wheat, a laborer couldalso buy three quarts of barley.
So if a person had a family tosupport, they would be forced to
(15:46):
purchase the barley instead ofthe wheat.
Not only that, but dependingupon how large your family was,
even if you were buying barley,you were going to be eating less
of it, simply because therewouldn't be as much for each
person in the family.
As a result, people wouldquickly become undernourished
and would be susceptible todeadly diseases.
And, considering the averagefamily size at that time, many
(16:10):
of the younger children inpoorer regions they would die or
suffer from malnutrition.
And these famine conditions area natural consequence of the
previous two riders that we saw,bringing with them war and
conquest and tremendousbloodshed.
Famine and pestilence oftenaccompany war, but what we also
see here is significant priceinflation, possibly even some
(16:33):
sort of hyperinflation scenariowhere wheat and barley now cost
anywhere from 5 to 15 times thenormal price.
Not only that, but wheat andbarley were the staple food
items in Roman society, so thescarcity and high price of those
items means that food was hardto come by.
And again, these are the typesof situations that follow war
(16:54):
and widespread death.
But the writer says somethinginteresting after announcing the
price of staple food items, andhe says and do not harm the oil
and wine.
Well, what does that mean?
Well, there are a couple ofdifferent thoughts on this.
First, there's the thought thatin ancient Mediterranean
warfare, there was this practiceof destroying the crops in the
(17:15):
field of the enemy, but notdestroying the vines and the
olive trees.
The thought was that bydestroying the wheat and the
barley, even as their conquerors, you would experience hardship
for about a year, or at leastuntil the next harvest came.
But destroying vines and olivetrees, that would result in a
more long-term hardship, becausethey took much longer to grow.
(17:36):
Olive trees took about 15 yearsto grow, and so what's the
point in conquering the land ifyou were going to experience
these long-term difficulties?
But another thought around notharming the oil and the wine is
that the message is beingconveyed that these luxury items
will still exist even thoughthere's widespread famine.
In other words, the oil and thewine will not be in short
(17:57):
supply, but most people won't beable to afford them.
They'll be spending all oftheir money on trying to just
buy enough to feed themselvesand their families.
There's no way they're going tobe buying anything not
considered staple food items,and so what this shows is that
in some ways, at least in thearea of food, the rich will not
be impacted like the majority ofthe people will be.
(18:18):
They'll still enjoy their oilsand wines.
And you know, regardless of thehistorical time period that you
look at, throughout history andeven today, the rich are always
going to be less impacted byinflationary pressures than the
poor are.
That's just simple economics.
They have the money and themeans to pay more for those
basic items, and the same thingis true today for wealthy people
(18:41):
.
It doesn't matter how much milkand bread and gas go up.
They're not impacted like themasses are, and so they might be
able to avoid some of the painassociated with this extreme
inflation.
That's described, but it saysnothing about them avoiding the
conqueror and war and beingkilled with the onset of the
first two riders.
And so what we see here withthe third rider is that war is
(19:04):
followed by famine and death.
And if you've somehow managedto survive through the first
three riders, then hold on,because the fourth rider is now
on the way, as John continues inverses 7 and 8, saying when he
had opened the fourth seal, Iheard the voice of the fourth
living creature say Come, and Ilooked and behold a pale horse
(19:25):
and its rider's name was Death,and Hades followed him, and they
were given authority over afourth of the earth to kill with
the sword and with famine andwith pestilence, and by wild
beasts of the earth.
Now this may be the mostfrightening of the four horses,
the pale horse whose rider'sname was Death.
Now we read here that the colorof the horse was pale, but the
(19:47):
actual word used in the Greekfor the color of the horse is
chloros.
It's where we get our wordchlorophyll.
It means green, but it's notreferring to a healthy green
color of grass that you maythink of.
This is referring to a palegreen, a sickly color.
It's associated with the facesof the sick or the color of a
corpse, the sort of yellowish,pale color.
(20:10):
Some argue that it's the colorof leprosy described in the book
of Leviticus, but it should beconsidered the color of a corpse
.
And, more importantly, is therider who sits upon the horse,
because his name is Death andHades follows him.
It's interesting that the firstthree riders each had some sort
of symbol or emblem.
(20:30):
The first rider carried a bow,the second carried a sword, the
rider of the black horse carriedscales, but this rider is death
, and he doesn't need an emblemor a sign, which definitely
lends credibility to thisdeathly ghastly color of the
horse, because it's the color ofdeath.
(20:51):
Now, this death may come as aresult of the culmination of the
first three riders, but ifthose alone weren't enough, this
rider is given power over afourth of the earth to kill with
the sword and with famine, andwith pestilence and by wild
beast of the earth.
And a fourth of the earth,that's a lot of people.
If the current population is 8billion people, are we talking
(21:13):
about 2 billion people here?
And so, just when you think itcan't get much worse, it does.
Because not only does thiswriter continue the killing by
the sword and famine, he alsoadds to it death by pestilence
and by the wild beast of theearth.
Now, before I forget, it'simportant to note who follows
death here Hades.
(21:33):
John says the writer's name wasDeath and Hades followed him.
Death and Hades appear to be inpartnership here.
And remember, it says that theywere given the authority over
one-fourth of the earth.
Well, who's granting them thisauthority?
God is Death and Hades are notoperating on their own.
They represent God's judgmenton the earth.
(21:56):
Now, the word Hades is atranslation of the Hebrew word
Sheol, which in the OldTestament often refers to the
realm of the dead, and there'sthis thought that death claims
the body but Hades claims thesoul.
And so what we see with thesefour riders the four horsemen of
the apocalypse, as they'recalled is that they are
(22:17):
essentially four agents of death, each bringing an additional
component as we see death by thesword, famine, pestilence and
beasts of the earth.
And I would point out heresomething that may not be
immediately obvious, butsomething worth considering Some
of the most dangerous beasts inthe world are microscopic.
But even though we've coveredthe first four horses and their
(22:39):
riders, the four horsemen, we'renot done yet.
We still have more seals toopen.
We'll see two more seals openedin this chapter, and so John
continues in verses 9 through 11, saying when he opened the
fifth seal, I saw under thealtar the souls of those who had
been slain for the word of Godand for the witness they had
borne.
They cried out with a loud voiceO sovereign Lord, holy and true
(23:03):
, how long before you will judgeand avenge our blood on those
who dwell on the earth?
Then they were each given awhite robe and told to rest a
little longer until the numberof their fellow servants and
their brothers should becomplete, who were to be killed,
as they themselves had been.
And so the fifth seal bringssomething different than the
first four did.
The first four brought horsesand riders, but with the fifth
(23:26):
seal, john sees under the altarthe souls of those who had been
slain for the word of God andfor the witness they had borne.
These were people who were putto death because of their
devotion to Jesus.
These are martyrs who havesuffered under the persecution
of people hostile to the messageof Jesus Christ, and they're
crying out to God forvindication, for justice.
(23:48):
Now John sees them under analtar, but that's most likely a
reference to the place wherepriests in the Old Testament
would pour the blood of theirsacrifices, and the thought is
that these martyrs share inChrist's suffering and sacrifice
.
They were, in a way, sacrificesoffered to God, and even though
they were slain on earth, theirsacrifice was really impacting
(24:11):
heaven, where their souls wereoffered at the heavenly altar.
In the meantime, they're givenwhite robes, which we've already
discussed represents theirrighteousness, and they're told
to wait a little longer, whichis an undetermined amount of
time, especially consideringthat God's not limited to time.
But notice that John doesn'tsee the bodies of those that
(24:32):
were killed.
He sees their souls, and sothis reference to souls likely
points to an intermediate state,maybe a period of time before
the believers will be raisedfrom the dead, a sort of an
interval when they'll existapart from their bodies.
And John says they were peoplewho were slain for the word of
God and for the witness they hadborne.
(24:52):
And that word used for slain isthe same Greek word we looked
at before, which meansslaughtered, butchered or put to
death by violence.
The Lamb, jesus Christ, wasslaughtered, and these people
were also slaughtered.
They were slaughtered becausethey held to God's word and the
witness of Christ.
The Roman historian Tacitustells us that under the Roman
(25:15):
emperor Nero, christians weretorn apart by wild animals, they
were nailed to crosses, theywere used as human torches to
light the streets, or they weredoomed to the flames and burnt.
And all of this they sufferedfor their testimony of Jesus.
I wonder if we would have hadthat same courage in those times
.
I mean, it's easy to say thatwe would have, especially
(25:38):
looking back from the comfort ofour lives in America in modern
times.
But what if you were literallyrisking your life and the life
of your family?
What if you were in certainparts of the world, even today,
where you're literally stillrisking your life?
Many people won't even riskoffending someone with their
belief in Jesus, and so it'shard to imagine that sort of
(25:58):
timidity and cowardice actuallyrisking their lives for their
beliefs.
All too often it just seems likewe just don't have the appetite
for potentially suffering forour faith.
We become too comfortable withour lives in the West, and one
of the dangers of becoming toocomfortable is that you also
stop growing.
You become soft, and we shouldnever become too comfortable
(26:20):
with the world.
This isn't our home.
But that brings us back totheir question how long, lord,
until we're vindicated?
And what was the answer?
To rest a little while longer,until the number of their fellow
servants and their brothersshould be complete, who were to
be killed, as they themselveshad been.
In other words, there are moremartyrs coming.
(26:41):
There are more believers whowill also give their lives for
their testimony of God.
Their faith will cost themtheir lives, and you think you
have it rough because someonemight be offended.
So how long, lord?
You know it may be, and I'mconvinced that it is the case.
You know it may be and I'mconvinced that it is the case,
that God knows perfectly thetiming of and the events that
(27:04):
will ultimately produce thegreatest number of believers to
be saved and enter into eternityin heaven.
But we continue as Jesus nowopens the sixth seal and John
describes what he saw in thelast six verses of the chapter,
with verses 12 through 17,saying when he opened the sixth
(27:25):
seal, I looked and behold therewas a great earthquake and the
sun became black as sackcloth,the full moon became like blood
and the stars of the sky fell tothe earth as the fig tree sheds
its winter fruit.
When shaken by a gale, the skyvanished like a scroll that's
being rolled up.
The sky vanished like a scrollthat's being rolled up.
So John sees Jesus open thesixth seal, which is quickly
bringing things to an end.
We're at the doorstep of theend of history.
(27:48):
The world as we know it iscoming to an end.
And John begins by describing agreat earthquake and the sun
becoming black as sackcloth, thefull moon becoming like blood.
So how are we to understandwhat John's describing here?
Well, ancient texts sometimesincluded colorful or exaggerated
language regarding earthquakes,saying that they could make
(28:10):
mountains move.
But this earthquake, it doesn'tappear to be an exaggeration
like that.
This is referencing theclimactic earthquake that
signals the end and that trulydoes move mountains.
And we discussed in the earlychapters of Revelation that
there were ancient cities thathad actually been devastated by
earthquakes, and so for them.
These words must have beenespecially troublesome, but we
(28:33):
see in Revelation that anearthquake in the Greek the word
seismos, where we get our wordseismic it seems to always point
to the end of history and inthe Old Testament it often
signaled God's judgment.
But in addition to a greatearthquake, john says that the
sun became black as sackclothand the full moon became like
blood.
(28:53):
And this is just like theprophet Joel described in the
Old Testament, in Joel 2.31,when he said the sun will be
turned to darkness and the moonto blood before the great and
terrible or awesome day of theLord comes.
In Acts 2.20, peter delivers asermon at Pentecost and he says
the sun shall be turned todarkness and the moon to blood
(29:15):
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
In Isaiah 13, speaking toBabylon and their pending
judgment, isaiah says Behold,the day of the Lord comes, cruel
, with wrath and fierce anger,to make the land a desolation
and to destroy its sinners fromit, for the stars of the heavens
(29:36):
and their constellations willnot give their light, the sun
will be dark at its rising andthe moon will not shed its light
.
I will punish the world for itsevil and the wicked for their
iniquity.
Now, one of the things someprophecy buffs like to do is
look for signs and predict someof those end time events, and
they'll look for and attempt tomake something out of the blood
(29:57):
moons.
For example, john Hagee wrote abook titled Four Blood Moons.
Something is about to change.
It became a bestseller, whichtells you that people have an
interest in this sort of thing.
When the Pharisees and theSadducees came to Jesus and
demanded a sign from heaven,jesus said to them when it's
evening, you say it'll be fairweather, for the sky is red, and
(30:19):
in the morning it will be fairweather, for the sky is red, and
in the morning it will bestormy.
Today, for the sky is red andthreatening.
You know how to interpret theappearance of the sky, but you
cannot interpret the signs ofthe times.
So Jesus implies here that weshould be able to look around us
and see the signs of the times,the social and political and
(30:42):
religious trends that we see.
But I think we can maybe alsotake that a bit too far in
constantly looking for thingslike blood moons, the fourth
blood moon, planetary alignmentsand whatever other heavenly
occurrences we can think of.
That might be indicative ofsome ancient prophecy, and I
certainly don't think it shouldbe the primary thrust of any
ministry, because the reality.
Reality is that a quote bloodmoon it's simply a term that's
(31:04):
sometimes used to describe atotal lunar eclipse where the
moon appears reddish in color.
And so it's just a scenariowhere the sun, earth and moon
are aligned and the earth movesbetween the sun and the moon,
casting its shadow on the moon.
The red color comes from theearth's atmosphere.
As sunlight passes through theearth's atmosphere, it gets
refracted.
I mean this is why we seesunsets and sunrises with that
(31:25):
reddish color.
And so during a total lunareclipse, only that red light
gets refracted around the earthand onto the moon, giving it
that reddish appearance.
Now the reason I say that isbecause it's not necessarily God
actually turning the moon intoa blood-red color, it's just
that it appears that way in thenight sky, and if that's the
(31:46):
case, there are other ways thatthat can occur.
It may be that what's describedhere by John has another
explanation.
It could be that the greatearthquake that's described here
it's so massive that it impactsthe Earth's great fault lines,
like the San Andreas Fault inCalifornia or the so-called Ring
of Fire in Japan.
If this were to happen, itwould result in a cataclysmic
(32:09):
global earthquake that wouldalso give rise to the eruption
of numerous volcanoes.
These volcanoes would spewmassive amounts of volcanic ash
and debris into the atmosphere,which would appear to blacken
the sun and give the moon sortof a blood red color.
Now, I'm not saying that's whatwill happen, but that's a very
real possibility, and so,although it can get interesting
(32:31):
for those people interested inthose sorts of things, I
wouldn't waste too much timetrying to predict how and when
this will occur.
All I know for certain is thatthe Lord's return is one day
closer today than it wasyesterday.
Now we touched on the greatearthquake, the sun becoming
black and the moon becoming likeblood.
But I also want to touch onverses 13 and 14, where John
(32:53):
says and the stars of the skyfell to the earth as fig trees
shed its winter fruit.
When, shaken by a gale, the skyvanished, like a scroll that is
being rolled up Becauseskeptics point to these two
verses as being physicallyimpossible, and so they try to
discredit the Bible.
Well, first, if you know muchabout astronomy, you know that a
(33:14):
star is simply another sun.
Our sun is considered amedium-sized main sequence star,
but the problem is that it's1.3 million times larger than
the earth.
So how could multiple starsfall to the earth?
It doesn't make any sense froma purely physical and scientific
perspective.
Well, there are a couple ofdifferent options to consider.
(33:35):
One is that, if you remember,in Revelation 1.16, we saw that
Jesus held in his right handseven stars and we discussed
that those stars were referringto angels.
Now, when we get to Revelation12, we'll read about war
breaking out in heaven, withMichael and his angels fighting
against Satan and his angels.
(33:56):
Satan is defeated and, as aresult, there's no longer a
place for him in heaven.
Satan and his angels are castout of heaven, thrown down to
the earth.
But in Revelation 12, verse 12,it tells us therefore, rejoice,
o heavens and you who dwell inthem, but woe to you, o earth
and sea, for the devil has comedown to you in great wrath
(34:19):
because he knows that his timeis short, and so it could be
that the stars falling from thesky described here in chapter 6
are an allusion to the angelswho fell from heaven.
In other words, we don't have aphysical or a scientific
problem at all.
We just need to understand whatthe text is actually telling us
.
Now there are some who willargue that the Greek word for
(34:40):
stars that's used here can alsorefer to celestial bodies in a
broader sense, and so they arguethat the best explanation is
that this is actually referringto a large asteroid or meteor
shower.
Now, another line of thoughtthat some have to interpret what
John is describing here is anuclear war.
Nuclear explosions wouldtrigger earthquakes and, and the
(35:01):
result in smoke and debriswould darken the sun and cause
the moon to appear red.
And they argue that thefollowing stars described by
John are actually nuclear bombsplummeting toward the earth.
And finally, there are alsothose who argue that this entire
line of description used byJohn it's symbolic meaning.
(35:21):
The symbols he utilizes arewritten symbolically, but
they're used to represent agenuine reality of what's to
happen.
And so, for example, when hedescribes great earthquakes,
mountains, moving stars fallingfrom the sky, the sky being
rolled up, etc.
He's using this symboliclanguage to describe the reality
of the unprecedented upheavaland the disruption that will
(35:45):
take place in the world, becauseit's unlike anything that's
ever been seen Social, political, governmental, all incomplete
and utter chaos.
In other words, the language issymbolic, but it's pointing us
to the end of the world as weknow it.
The physical world is fallingapart, all institutions are
dissolving.
(36:05):
Life as we know it is over.
It reminds me of what Jesussaid in Matthew 24, 22.
Except, those days should beshortened, there should be no
flesh be saved, but for the sakeof the elect, those days shall
be shortened.
But before we move on, I doalso want to touch on verse 14,
(36:27):
where John says that the skyvanished like a scroll that is
being rolled up.
Because I find that particularverse very interesting, and let
me tell you why.
Before we dismiss this verse asbeing purely metaphoric or
symbolic language, consider thisthe current consensus of most
physicists and astronomers,based on a variety of evidence,
leads them to believe that theuniverse is flat, and it's
(36:49):
interesting that in places likeJob, psalms, isaiah and others,
that God is described as quotestretching out the heavens like
a tent curtain.
We see this mentioned more than15 times.
Stretching out the heavens likea tent curtain we see this
mentioned more than 15 times.
We're told in other places thatthe heavens can be worn out
like a garment.
They can be torn, rolled uplike a scroll, which is exactly
(37:10):
what our modern science tells usas they refer to this fabric of
space.
Space is not some empty vacuum.
But here's the point If spaceis a fabric that can be rolled
up, then there must be adirection it can be rolled
towards.
Think of a scroll that you'rerolling up.
It must be bent towards somedirection.
So if space can be rolled up,there must be some other
(37:34):
dimension it can be rolledtowards.
Now, science tells us that welive in four dimensions Length,
width, height and time, which werefer to as space-time.
But even though we experiencelife in these four dimensions,
modern science believes that welive in at least 10 dimensions,
possibly 11, depending onwhether you're talking about
string theory or M-theory.
(37:55):
In other words, we live in andexperience four dimensions, but
there are actually at least 10.
But these are inaccessible tous right now because they're
wound up so tightly and they'reso small.
Bottom line, there areadditional dimensions of space,
and it sounds like something outof a science fiction movie.
But truth is often stranger thanfiction, and I believe God has
(38:18):
sometimes given people a sort ofpeek behind the curtain in
being able to access anotherdimension Without bringing any
modern examples into it.
Consider the biblical exampleof Elisha in 2 Kings.
When Elisha's servant got up inthe morning, he saw the city
surrounded by an enemy force,which caused him to panic.
But Elisha remained calm and hereplied don't be afraid, those
(38:42):
who are with us are more thanthose who are with them.
Elisha then prayed Open hiseyes, lord, so that he may see.
And the Lord answered Elisha'sprayer, and the servants' eyes
were opened to see the hillsfull of horses and chariots of
fire all around Elisha,revealing God's protective army.
And so was this a case of Godgranting someone to see a
(39:04):
glimpse beyond our fourdimensions and into another.
I mean, why can't we always seeangels?
Why can't we see demons?
Where exactly is the spiritworld?
I mean, is some of this locatedin these other dimensions that
scientists believe exist butthat we just can't access?
And so I mention all of thatjust to help you think through
some of what John is describing.
(39:25):
Maybe some of it is symboliclanguage and some of it is very
literal.
But getting back to the text athand, we finish with the last
three verses, verses 15 through17, which read Then the kings of
the earth and the great onesand the generals and the rich
and the powerful and everyone,slave and free, hid themselves
(39:45):
in the caves and among the rocksof the mountains, calling to
the mountains, and the rocksFall on us and hide us from the
face of him who is seated on thethrone, and from the wrath of
the Lamb, for the great day oftheir wrath has come.
And who can stand?
And so what we see beingdescribed here is an inescapable
judgment of God's wrath.
It doesn't matter who you areor what station in life you hold
(40:08):
, from the supposed elites ofsociety to those on the bottom
rung, judgment is at hand, andwe know God is not a respecter
of persons.
And I think it's telling thatGod first mentions the elites
who think they're secure intheir positions or status here
on earth.
And if you remember what we'vementioned in earlier episodes
about the number seven, that itrepresents perfection or
(40:31):
completeness, isn't itinteresting that there are seven
groups of people mentioned here, which points to a complete and
universal judgment of theungodly in the world?
Count them again if you wantthe kings of the earth, the
great ones, the generals, therich, the powerful, slaves and
free.
Nobody gets a pass.
God doesn't care about yourlofty position in society here
(40:55):
on earth because he's king, butneither is he interested in your
lowly position as a reason oran excuse to turn a blind eye to
your ungodliness.
One thing to keep in mind hereJesus isn't coming to simply
bring an end to this currentworld, but to judge the world,
and I'm not sure we have a realgrasp of what that will be like.
But Jesus told us in Matthew 24, for as were the days of Noah,
(41:20):
so will be the coming of the Sonof man.
For as in those days before theflood, they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving inmarriage until the day when
Noah entered the ark, and theywere unaware until the flood
came and swept them all away, sowill be the coming of the Son
of man.
But one thing we do see here isthat it strikes terror into
(41:42):
people, so much so that they tryto hide themselves in caves and
in the rocks of mountains.
They cry out and beg the rocksof the mountains to fall on them
and save them from the wrath ofthe Lamb.
They're more afraid of God thanthey are of death.
And the prophet Malachi askedbut who can endure the day of
his coming and who can standwhen he appears?
(42:03):
You see, they realize there'sno escape, but they would rather
be killed like this than toface divine anger and judgment.
So they cry out to themountains to fall on them to
hide them from the presence ofGod and the Lamb.
They're terrified because theycannot stand before a holy God.
You know, I often hear skepticstrying to argue that the mean,
(42:26):
wrathful, vengeful God of theOld Testament is much different
than the peaceful, loving,turn-the-other-cheek Jesus of
the New Testament.
Well, they obviously don't knowthe Bible very well and they
certainly haven't studiedRevelation.
Some people are just unwillingto pay the price to learn what
the Bible actually says.
(42:46):
But one of the most importanttakeaways from Revelation is
that God will vindicate thesaints and the world will
recognize the God they'verejected.
You know, billy Grahamstruggled over the years with
whether he had preached what'scalled a cheap grace and he
(43:10):
asked.
Well, nobody will have to worryabout that when Jesus returns.
The day of reckoning has comeand there is no exception,
there's no escape.
Jesus came the first time asthe Lamb of God, but he'll
(43:45):
return as the Lion of Judah.
Let the lightning roar Hail,hail, lion of Judah.
Let the lightning roar Hail,hail Lion of roll, roll, roll,
(44:07):
roll, roll, roll, roll, roll,roll, roll roll.
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Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.