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Before we begin tonight’s look at the book of Revelation, I think it would be helpful to give you a quick recap on everything we’ve looked at so far.
In Revelation chapter one we looked at how Christ is the focal point of the book, and how He should be the focus of our lives, as well.
Then we looked at words that Christ shared with seven historical churches, some of them hearing good news, some of them hearing bad news.
Then we caught a glimpse of the throne room of God; filled with angels, and saints, and elders, and even four beasts.
And I know you guys are getting tired of hearing me ask this question, but who can remember either of the two theories about what the four beasts represent?
Yes, thank you.
One theory is that they represent the word of God, with each beast representing one of the four gospels.
The second theory is that they represent the four heads of creation, meaning that all of creation is worshipping God.
Last week, we concluded with a magnificent song to the Lamb of God, praising Him for His worthiness.
We applied it to our lives by deciding that everything we do should be about praising and honoring Jesus Christ.
Tonight, we are going to look at one of the most famous aspects of the book of Revelation.
When most people think about the book of Revelation, what is one of the first images that comes to their mind?
Can anybody think of what it is?
Yes, it’s the four horsemen!
Tonight, we are going to look at these four horsemen, and try to figure out what they represent, and what it means for us today.
And our text tonight is Revelation chapter six, and we will be studying verses one through eight.
So again, Revelation 6:1-8.
/“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, ‘Come and see.’
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, ‘Come and see.’
And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, ‘Come and see.’
And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, ‘A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’
And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, ‘Come and see.’
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”/
If we have any hope of understanding this, we had better start off with prayer.
Ok, so remember, two weeks ago we had introduced this scroll with its seven seals.
If you remember, there was no one worthy to open the scroll, except for the Lamb, who is Jesus Christ.
So now, Jesus is beginning to open up this scroll.
And each time Christ breaks one of those little seals, something cataclysmic happens on planet earth.
And as you can imagine, there are a variety of interpretations out there as to what exactly will happen, and whether the horsemen have been going out for thousands of years, or whether they will be going out in the future.
Well, this is what is so tricky about the book of Revelation.
When the Old Testament prophets would tell a difficult prophecy about the coming Messiah, no doubt the Scribes and the scholars had a very difficult time trying to guess at what exactly this Messiah would look like.
Well, it is easy for us to understand these prophecies, because we know the Messiah!
But we have the same trouble when we try to understand the book of Revelation, because most of the events in the book haven’t happened yet.
There will be a time in Heaven, when we read the book of Revelation and understand it clearly, because we will be reading about events that we have seen with our eyes.
But for now, it is hard to come to a rock-hard conclusion about things we can only estimate.
That being said, I think the text does give us some context clues about what is going on here.
The first question we need to answer is to whether or not the four horsemen are symbolic of church history, or whether they represent something that will happen in our future.
Many honest theologians have concluded over the years that the horsemen are symbolic of things that have continually happened over the years, and they are realized each time there is a war, a famine, or wide-spread death.
But I cannot accept that conclusion, mostly because the pale horse is said to kill twenty-five percent of the world’s population.
Any time the Bible throws out a very specific number, I think that we must interpret this number literally.
So the question arises, “Has there been any time in human history when one-fourth of the world’s population has been wiped out?”
And the short answer is, “No.”
The bubonic plague in the 1300s came close, but even that horrible plague did not kill a fourth of the entire world population.
So, by my understanding, this means that the four horsemen have not yet come to earth; but we will definitely know it when it happens.
All right, let’s begin looking at these horsemen.
The first horseman is seen in verse two of our text.
Verse two reads, /“And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”/
All right, so we have already decided that this horseman will come in the future, but what sort of character are we looking for?
Well, there are several things we need to notice.
The first thing I want you to notice is the color white.
White was a color ridden by royalty and by military leaders.
The second thing to notice is that the rider was holding a bow.
But have you noticed what is missing from this picture?
Arrows!
The rider of the white horse only has a bow, but is not carrying any arrows!
The third thing I want you to notice is that the rider is wearing a crown.
But in the Greek language, there are different words to describe different kinds of crowns.
The kind of crown in this verse is the type of crown given to someone who has won a great victory.
So, we have someone who is a political or military leader, yet they are not actually carrying a weapon, and the person is wearing a crown designed for a victor.
The identity of this rider has puzzled theologians for almost 2,000 years now.
Many have said over the years that this rider represents Jesus Christ, going out to conquer the world.
And the reason they think this is that the end of the book of Revelation says that Jesus will come on a white horse.
But, there are two very important differences between Christ and this horseman.
The first difference is that of the weapon.
Who can remember what weapon Jesus carried in chapter one of Revelation?
That’s right, a sword!
This rider is carrying a bow.
The second big difference is that Jesus is wearing a different kind of crown.
In the Greek language, the Bible makes it plain that Jesus is wearing a crown designed for a king, while the rider of the white horse is wearing a crown designed for a victor.
So, who is the rider of this white horse?
Is it any coincidence that the rider has some similarities to Jesus?
Well, in my humble opinion, I believe that the rider of the white horse is the Antichrist.
The Antichrist is a figure in the book of Revelation that comes and imitates Christ, trying to deceive as many people as possible.
I believe that this is the entrance of the Antichrist into the world.
But notice that he does not come swinging a sword.
No, initially he comes with peace.
He goes out conquering, but he does not even have a weapon.
When this man comes on the scene, many people will think that he is the “Messiah” who has finally come to save the world.
For the sake of time, let’s move on to the second horseman.
Look at what verse four says.
/“And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”/
Ok, so now we have a second horseman going out.
This second horse is red, which normally signifies rage and fury.
Looking at this verse, what do you think the second horse represents?
Yes, war!
And as far as the scope of this war, the only clue is that the horseman takes away peace from the earth.
Now, you know as well as I do that we are currently involved in several operations overseas, but there is still a large amount of peace on the earth.
My interpretation of this verse is that sometime in the future, there is going to be a global war that makes World War Two look like a skirmish.
It’s impossible to tell how the Antichrist will relate to this global war, but we do know that he will emerge from the war the victor.
So while he initially came in peace, it looks as if things quickly turned to war.
And not just any war, but the biggest war the world has ever seen.
Let’s look at the third horse now.
Verse five reads, /“And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, ‘Come and see.’
And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.”/
In the Bible, black normally has connotations of mourning, just like we still wear black to funerals.
And this idea is furthered when you see that the horseman is carrying a pair of balances.
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