John enters a new aspect of his vision with the opening of the seven seals on the scroll. As Christ begins to open them, John sees the revealing of the punishment, the predicted judgment beginning. The closest parallel to this chapter is in Matthew 24, where Christ refers to “the beginning of birth pains”, in His teaching the disciples on the Mount of Olives (Olivet discourse).
All this fits into a framework of understanding a pre-Tribulational rapture of the church, followed by a literal seven-year Tribulation. This is the seventieth week of Daniel, and John begins to be shown what will take place.
The scroll is probably best understood as a spiral scroll, rolled up, with portions or sections sealed along the way. Looked at from the end, you might see all seven seals in this spiral, so that you could break one, open a little of the scroll, break another, open a little more, and so on, until finally the scroll would be completely open, or unrolled. And as each seal is broken, nothing is read, but a corresponding action takes place.
Today’s read is through the first four of these seals. With the opening of each one, a horseman is called by one of the four living beings (creatures). It appears that the best way to understand these horsemen is for them to be personifications of a movement or series of events to occur. That is, the horsemen are representative of the judgments to come, along with the result of each.
The breaking of the first seal brings a WHITE horse. This horse is very different from the white horse in chapter. This one represents an imitator of Christ, a pretend righteousness. He threatens war (carrying a bow) but war does not happen (he has no arrows). Rather, he symbolizes conquest by peaceful means, deceptive as they may be. White represents righteousness and victory, and this horseman seems to demonstrate that during the first part of the Tribulation there will be this superficial peace, a temporal victory (Thomas).
Seal number 2 is broken, and a horseman on a RED horse is beckoned. Slaughter and blood are the representations here. “To take peace from he earth” is the description John provides. Remember, these horsemen are agents of God, carrying out His will. Mankind has had the opportunity to recognize who He is. Where at first there was peace, now there will be international strife and bloodshed.
The third seal’s breakage brings a sorrowful picture. This horse is BLACK, reminiscent of mourning, of lamentation. There will be a scarcity of food and related anxiety. Food will be in short supply (they are eating food by weight), and the availability of food will be affected by decreasing purchasing power. Wheat and barley are mentioned, and one commentator notes that one will be able to buy larger quantities of progressively lesser quality food, a depiction of many going hungry, desperate to eat. This famine will not be universal, however, as the oil and wine are protected. The wealthy and those in corrupt power will still have plenty.
The fourth horse arriving after the breaking of the related seal is PALE in color, or ”ASHEN” (NASB). The image reminds one of a face pale in color, a corrupted corpse. The rider is named “Death”, and Hades is along with this horseman. “Death” is given the authority to claim the lives of one-fourth of the world’s population. And only Death can be accompanied by Hades. If that were to occur today, this would mean 1 billion or more people. As Death acts, Hades is ready and capable of detaining its victims, in the intermediary place for the ungodly awaiting final judgment. This death affects all parts of man, body and soul alike.
SO WHAT...?
So, I can see the incentive to trust Christ and live for Him. This “beginning of birth pains” is no place to be.
So, I should take comfort in knowing I will be spared this time of judgment.
So, I should warn others of this judgment period’s imminence. God has assembled His judgment team, and He is ready to act at any time. I won’t scare anyone out of Hell, and yet I can portray what John saw as being very real, sometime in the near future. Gold is holy, and just. He will carry out the justice His holiness demands.
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