The Four Horsemen: Revelation 6:1-17

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, Come!

The Lamb began to open. The first seal broke. The living creature thundered: Come! The command summoned what was sealed.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

White horse. The rider with a bow—the weapon of distant warfare. Given a crown—stephanos, the victor's wreath. Conquering and to conquer. The first horseman: conquest, perhaps false peace, perhaps the antichrist mimicking Christ who will later ride a white horse.

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, Come!

Second seal. Second living creature. Come!

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

Red as fire. Red as blood. Peace removed. People killing each other. A large sword—not the small sword of justice but the great sword of slaughter. The second horseman: war.

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come! I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.

Black horse. Scales in hand—the imagery of commerce, of measuring, of rationing.

Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, Two pounds of wheat for a day's wages, and six pounds of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!

A day's wages for barely enough food. Famine prices. The poor starving while luxury items—oil and wine—remained untouched. The third horseman: famine.

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come!

Fourth seal. Fourth summons.

I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.

Pale—the Greek chloros, the sickly green of a corpse. The rider had a name: Death. And Hades—the grave—followed to collect the dead. The fourth horseman: death itself.

They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

A fourth of humanity. Killed by sword (war), famine, plague, and beasts. The four horsemen ride together—conquest leading to war leading to famine leading to death.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.

Under the altar. Martyrs' souls. Slain for the word and testimony. The altar where sacrifices were offered—the martyrs' blood poured out like sacrifice.

They called out in a loud voice, How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?

How long? The cry of the persecuted through all ages. When will justice come? When will the blood-debt be paid?

Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

White robes given. Wait a little longer. More martyrs were coming. The full number had not yet been reached. The persecution would continue before vindication came.

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake.

The sixth seal brought cosmic catastrophe. Earth shaking.

The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.

Sun blackened. Moon bloodied. Stars falling like late figs in a wind. The cosmos convulsing.

The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

The sky itself rolled back. Mountains and islands moving. Geography rearranged. The stable earth becoming unstable.

Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

All humanity hiding. Kings and slaves equal in terror. Caves and rocks as refuge—futile refuge.

They called to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

Fall on us. Hide us. Better to be buried than to face the throne. The wrath of the Lamb—the gentle image made terrifying. Even the Lamb has wrath.

For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?

The great day. Who can stand? The question hung unanswered as the sixth seal ended.

Four horsemen. Martyrs crying. Cosmos collapsing. And still one seal remained.