Lesson One

(For audio recording of this lesson click here)

The Four Horsemen Interpreted

Revelation 6:1-8

A. One View is on the global economic impact from Western Culture

1. Resources (White Horse = conquest) - the blessings of God turn into lust and abuse of power. Consumers becoming consumed. Exhaustion of the earths resources.

2. Progress (Red Horse = war) - the more advance we become as societies is more backwards we become as humans. Abject poverty of billions creating breakdown of global relations and collaboration.

3. Banking (Black Horse = famine) - A broken economy where there’s a financial crisis. Cause the few rich get richer and many poor get poorer.

4. Terrorism and Disease (Green Horse = death) - greed creating a backlash of terrorism; mass death of innocent due to escalating organized violence. Increase pharmaceutical medications to deal with new and complex illnesses related to unhealthy diets, malnutrition, and increased stress.

- Watch youtube video: https://youtu.be/5fbvquHSPJU

- Summary of Four Horsemen in 2018:

* Exhaustion of the earths resources

* Abject poverty for billions

* Repacing financial system

* Escalating organized violence and avoidable diseases

B. A Second View in Global Politics:

- White horse - False Religion (i.e. aspects of the Roman Catholic)

- Red horse - Communism

- Black Horse - Capitalism

- Green horse - Islam

- Articles worth checking out to discredit this view:

https://www.gotquestions.org/Islamic-antichrist.html

http://www.cogwriter.com/news/prophecy/irvin-baxter-does-not-understand-about-the-four-horsemen-of-the-apocalypse-do-you/

https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/PW/k/933/The-Four-Horsemen-Pale-Horse.htm

C. Third view according Matthew 24

1. White Horse - false Christ, prophets, impostors’ might (Matt 24:5, 24)

2. Red horse - war (Matt 24:6,7)

3. Black horse - inflation and famine (Matt 24:7)

4. Green Horse - Pestilence (Matt 24:7)

This third view is supported by Baker Commentary, speaking about the depravity of mankind:

1. White Horse - From lust to conquest

2. Red horse - to civil war

3. Black horse - to famine

4. Green Horse - to pestilence and death

- This shows the natural progression of man’s humanity to man. God simply allows human sin to come full circle, turn in upon itself, and self-destruct.

- Imagery of four Horsemen is drawn from Zachariah 1:7-11 and 6:1-8 in which for chariots are drawn by red, black, white, and dapple grey horses. The colour difference in their symbolism, where for Zachariah the colours symbolize the four winds, while in Revelation they symbolize death and destruction associate with the judgments. All three passages have the same themes: captivity, sword, famine, death.

- The four horsemen flow together, where God is not so much pouring down judgement on the earth-dwellers, as allowing their depravity to come full circle.

- The four horsemen can be seen as “demonic agents of distraction” paralleled as in Gog of Ezekiel 38-39

D. Four horsemen explained:

* The white horse rider represents humankind setting themselves up in the place of God. The rider was given a bow and rode out to conquer, abusing the blessings of God (italics added).

* In the second horse, the last of conquest turns to Civil War. Colour red symbolize his terrible bloodshed and slaughter to be wrought upon the world. “Peace taken from the world” is the “wars and rumours of wars” in Mark 13, speaking about the beginning of birth pains.

* In the third horse, along with the fourth describe the effects of war. The Black horse signifies sorrow and mourning caused by the famine and suffering that follows the war.

* The fourth horse is yellowish green colour or also can be referred to as green grass (Mark 6:39), here is used for the colour of disease and death. The rider of the horse is named Death; and Hades is its evil companion. Hades has a double meaning with pestilence here as well.

E. Significance of the Open Seals and Four horsemen:

- Fallen angels are the four horsemen that God has let loose. Fallen angels seek authority to act based upon sin of man. The seals has given Fallen angles authority based upon function not upon divine decree. Seals being open do two things: shows evils attack (demons and sinners) and then God’s counter attack (angels and Jesus).

Therefore, the four housemen passage shows the rise and fall of strong empires I.e. Babylon. It is a self destruction in process.