“I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! It's rider was named Death and Hades was
following close behind him. They were
given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and
by the wild beasts of the earth.”
Revelation 6:8
The Four Horsemen of the book of Revelation is a very
well-known, if occasionally misunderstood piece of imagery. Yet before examining the symbolism and
imagery of the Book of Revelation to determine their meanings it is worthwhile
to spend some time looking at the context and meaning of the Book itself. Written on the island of Patmos by a prophet
named John it is often referred to as the Revelation of St. John or the
Apocalypse but is most accurately named the 'Revelation of Jesus Christ'. The writer makes clear that he is recording
exactly what he sees and hears, with no addition or subtraction and no editing
of the text. Word for word the Book of
Revelation is Jesus' final written message to mankind and the only book in the
entire Bible that carries a blessing for those who study its words.
Whether the book was written by John the Apostle or another
prophet named John is unclear and unimportant.
The dating of the book is also unclear, with some religious scholars
believing it to have been written between 68 and 69 A.D. and others believing
it to have been written later, approximately 95 A.D. Contrary to popular opinion the exact dating
of the Book of Revelation is also equally unimportant. While many scholars claim the dating is vital
to understanding the imagery used as relating to political events occurring
during the life of the writer, Jesus makes it clear it is a message for
Christians about the events leading up to His return. As we know that Jesus has not yet returned we
can safely assume that the messages in the Book of Revelation still have
meaning for Christ's followers today and into the future. In fact, as we shall see, there are passages
that clearly indicate that the heart of the message was for a time far into the
writer’s future. Possibly our time.
Of far more importance than finding a date for when the
actual text was written is understanding the timeline given within the
text. As the Book of Revelation acts as
a countdown to the ultimate, triumphant return of Jesus it is extremely
important to understand when this countdown begins. The Book of Revelation can conveniently be
broken into three parts. The first part
is a series of seven letters written to specific church congregations of the
time, the full meaning of which will be discussed at a later date. The second part is a timeline of social and
political events leading up to the return of Christ, followed by the judgement
of God and the third outlines events that will take place, on Earth, after the
return of Christ.
At the beginning of chapter five John is told to ‘Come up
here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ This tells us that John’s vision relates to
future events but when, in time, is the ‘this’ referred to? In the vision John sees a being that he
describes as a Lamb, as though it had been slain. This being, whom we can confidently identify
with Jesus, is the only one qualified to open the scroll of God’s judgement,
which begins the countdown or timeline.
Most people, scholars and laymen alike, assume from this passage that
all of the following events are things that will occur after Jesus’ crucifixion. However if you read further into the text we
see a very different starting point for the opening of the scroll. Revelation 13:8 tells us specifically when
this event took place, ‘the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the
world.’ So rather than the prophecies
beginning only after the crucifixion, in fact the prophesised events began with
the creation of the world; in other words the seals began to be opened at the
moment that the sacrifice of Christ became necessary; the day that man fell in
the Garden of Eden.
Understanding that our starting point for the timeline in
the Book of Revelation actually begins with the Garden of Eden helps to make
the prophecies easier to decipher, and indeed they make more sense once seen
from that starting point. Thus the
Fourth Horseman, whose name is Death with Hades, or the grave, following after,
has been riding since Cain’s murder of Abel, the first death that occurred in
the world, Gen 4:8. Accepting that the
Horsemen began riding after the fall of man what is the actual significance of
the imagery of horsemen and riders?
Outside of the book of Revelation there is only one reference to horses
and horsemen in the Bible. That comes in
the Old Testament prophetic book of Zechariah 1:8-11. In a vision the prophet sees a man riding a
red horse, with three other coloured horses and riders standing behind the man
on the red horse. Zechariah is told that
these horsemen are angelic beings who travel to and fro upon the earth. Thus we see that the imagery of horsemen is
used to denote supernatural beings, however, we must remember that there are
two realms of supernatural beings, God’s host of heavenly angels and Satan’s
demons.
Given that the Four Horsemen are supernatural beings have
they been sent on their ride by God or Satan?
The reality is not as simple as one or the other. In fact the ride of the horsemen is a natural
result of man’s fall into sin. God told
Adam and Eve that if they should eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge that
they would die, Gen 2:16. Thus the act
of rebellion, the sin of disobeying God brought with it its own innate
punishment – that death had now entered the world. As we examine the other horsemen in more
detail we will see this pattern of self-contained punishment repeated. It will also become clearer that the intended
countdown to Jesus final return began when mankind fell into sin which is vital
to understanding where we, today, fit into prophecy.
In Jesus' everlasting love,
Tracey
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