Rev 6:5 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. 6 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.
We need to remember that John is not seeing the end but the things that lead to the end. These things are the signs and wonders leading up to the final conflict between Jesus and the Antichrist.
The black horse and rider represents famine. This fits in that famine will usually follow a world wide war.
The crops of that time (John's time), as repeatedly mentioned in the Bible, is corn, wine and oil. (see Deu 7:13 , 11:14, 28:51 and Hosea 2:8 & 22).(the word "corn" was used to refer to any grain , but especially for wheat. see godandsicence.org)
The olive oil and the grape plants are both deep rooted plants and can withstand a pretty severe drought. Where the wheat, or "corn" is a shallow plant and cannot. Therefore, the wheat would die off first.
The scales here are to represent the measure of wheat for a denarius or a full days wages. The word measure here means, just enough to make a man one meal. So what we are looking at is a days wages for one meal mad with wheat. A danarius is also equivalent to three measures of barley,(lesser cheaper wheat) or three meals for that days wages. These are really hard times, the wheat alone will cost all we have leaving nothing left to buy the other necessities of life. Yes, the wine and oil will be plentiful but there will be no wages left to purchase them with. Most of the remaining population will die of starvation.
There has been an interesting point made by Barclay in The Revelation of John vol. 2, that nature is also represented by the four living creatures who are giving the warning concerning famine. The issue here is that nature has always produced plenty and that there still are many people who have more than enough but there are some who will never see abundance. I am not advocating take from the rich and give to the poor. I am saying that Christ has given all, on the cross, so that we may have everlasting life with him, surely we can share with those who do not have enough and be the true Christian HE wants us to be.
"Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act." - Proverbs 3:27-28
I received a request concerning the horseman and their riders, to know more about them. So, I did a little digging and what I found was worthy of an "extra" blog.
The white horse rider. It turns out that the white horse rider is the representation of Antichrist. Do not confuse this with the white horse rider of ch 19:11-21. This white horse rider is symbolic, it begins the terror on earth. He will come out of the 10 kingdoms (formed in first future tri-contient war.). (See Daniel 7:7-8 and 23-24). The white horse rider of Ch 19;11-21 is a literal rider and it is Christ! He will end these events...but, lets not get ahead.
There are 7 proofs that this rider is the Antichrist:
1. An individual is refereed to in verse 2.
2. By him coming on the white horse, he is trying to imitate Christ and then he actually claims to be him.
a. Mt. 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray."
b. In addition, Jn 5:43; Dan. 9:29; Dan.11:37
3. In the Bible, the bow is symbolic language used with man and his evil designs and conquest. Christ is always symbolized as having a sword, not a bow.
a. See Ps 7:12; 11:2; 37:14; and Jer. 49:35 (there are more)
4. Satan is the one who gives the Antichrist a crown.
a. Dan. 8:24; Dan. 11:38 and 39; and 2 Thes. 2: 8-12
5. The Antichrist is the only conquer at this time to predicted in Scripture as coming forth.
6. The rider will cause what is coming forth in the next seals that will be opened.
7. With the man mentioned several times in the book of Daniel, we must take them as identical. If we do not that would mean there are two men coming forth which, clearly there is not. Therefore, we can know that he rider of the white horse is the Antichrist.
(referenced from the Dake's Annotated Bible pg. 542)
A time line here is important: Daniel speaks of 70 weeks. Daniel 9:24 "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy."
The literal translation of the phrase 70 weeks is 70 sevens. Hebrew for week is shabua meaning seven.
Daniel 9:2 "In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof theword of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation's of Jerusalem." Here we read the visions didn't concern days but years.
There is a division of the 70 sevens:
The first division: -7 sevens, 49 years for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Daniel 9:25,
"...commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in tremulous times."
The second division:- 62 sevens, 434 years, the time the city of Jerusalem was built, till the time Christ was crucified for us.
Daniel 9:25 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood:War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed."
The third division:-one seven, 7 years...Our last seven! At least of this age and with the Christians being on this earth. It will end with the return of the glorious Christ to fulfill all 6 events!
Daniel 9:24 "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy."
The Red Horse: I didn't find much more concerning this horse other than the White horse rider causes the wars, and the killing mentioned in the previous blog.
I hope this helped you as much as it helped me!
Blessings on all
Calabash
My research comes from: Dakes Annotated Bible, ; The Revelation of John, Books 1 and 2 by Barclay; Lectures of the Revelation, by Ironsides; Prophecy Study Bible, by LaHaye ; The Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah, by Baron; The Holy Bible, KJV, NIV, GW, many authors; and Dispensational Truth, by Larkin
3And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.4And 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.
Second seal, second rider, the final chance for any kind of peace was over. The blood Red Horseman and rider was to bring on anarchy (most often, the term describes the absence of publicly recognized government or enforced political authority.) and warfare, and it will be very bloody and violent.
The peace was remove, hatred was everywhere. This horseman has a great sword which stands for warfare, all order was to be broken down. Fighting, hatred, chaos and killing was the activity of the day. Nation against nation, city against city, class wars, civil wars, brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor (Isaiah 19:2 and Zechariah 14:13). Men will fall in battle, parish in anguish, be destroyed by the had of their neighbor and slaughtered in the street and at home. It is a sad, horrific time for the world. A selfish, hateful, angry, hostile world with no rules, regulations or order. An extremely evil and bloody time where sin and strife abound.
I learned a new word connected with this vision, "internecine" strife. Internecine means: Latin internecinus, from internecare to destroy, kill, frominter- + necare to kill, from nec-, nex violent death — more at noxious, marked by slaughter : deadly; especially : mutually destructive.
This will be a horrible time for anyone to attempt to live through. Make sure your on the side lines, in heaven, with our Heavenly Father! Commit your life to Christ now, the blessings from Him that loves you will make your future days bright, full of hope and the promises of our wonderful Creator.
Blessings on all,
Calabash
1And 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. 2And 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.
Before we get started there are some things I want to mention.
1. This is occurring after the church is gone.
2. The original is in Greek, each of the four creatures or beasts say "come and see". This translation in the Greek is just "Come". It is not a request for John to come and see, it is a summons to the four horses to come forward, one by one, when called.
3. We have seen the four horsemen before in the book of Zechariah 6:1-8. John's vision in Revelation is not exactly the same but, the end result is. The horses and the riders are of God and are the judgment of God. The horsemen and riders are destructive forces from God against the remaining evil world. The world, after the church is taken, would be disintegrating, evil, chaotic and well lack of Christians, love and hope.
4. What John is seeing will be told through his eyes, without knowledge of the modern day. Therefore we will be dealing with ideas from his time and pictures of what he is comparing with today's ways and things.
Now, the first seal:
Thunder- When we hear thunder, we know there is a storm coming, same is true here. A storm is coming!
The White Horse and rider with a bow in his hand:
Horses have been a symbol in the Bible for divine intervention. (as in Zechariah 1)
White is the symbol for victory.
The bow in his hand is a sign of military power and conquest.
This will be one final effort to bring about order and peace while Christ is rejected. One final attempt for the world to "get it together" after the Church has been taken. We don't know if any is established, it is not stated but the vision John has is one of tragedy.
Do NOT be there for this, if you are still considering Christ, take that leap of faith and welcome Him into your heart. Contact me or go to a Christian church near you, talk to someone. Do not delay!
Blessings on all,
Calabash
Rev 5: 13And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor,and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.14And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever.- KLV
Note here that that song goes out over all the universe, there is no place that the praise song does not reach. And in this praise, God and the Lamb are joined together as one.
Rev 5:13 "And every creature which is in heaven".. Who is this? the angels, the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars, every possible being in heaven? Yes, maybe, we don't really know but we who are in Christ will see and experience!
..."and under the earth"...Those who are dead in Hades. This is new from the Old Testiment, in Psalms we see frequently (Psm 6:5, 30:9, & 88:10-12) where the dead are not able to sing, to praise, to declare love. In Isa 38:18, they cannot give praise, thank or hope. Unitl now....Christ has change that and those under the earth will now sing and give praise. Christ changes so many things in our lives that we think or feel is hopeless, in Christ there is hope, salvation, joy and change for you. Lean on Him, trust in Him and see! Your other option is to continue as you are and wait, but what a price you may end up paying.
In verse 14 we see the word "amen " being spoken by the four beasts, the Greek translation here for amen is aunv meaning, "so be it".
This finishes up chapter 5, the next blog will be the beginning of the opening of the seals. I hope you will be there!
Blessings on all,
Calabash
