Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome back to the mysterious world of John the Revelator and to the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation. This is Part 27 of the series and today we are going to take a closer look at the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse which were included in the outline of Chapters 6-16 that I gave a brief outline of in the last two studies. As always, there is more than at first meets the eye but if we are to rightly discern the meaning we must constantly bear the 'big picture' in mind because it is, itself, an intricate divine tavnith, or pattern which, if lost, can lead us off onto fruitless tangents and cause us to unintentially bend the text out of prophetic shape.

Rather than start by giving you a 'summary of the summary' of the last two weeks, which is rather pointless since that is not easily done without a tremendous loss of meaning, I think the most profitable way of bringing all that material back into sharp focus is by looking at it from a different perspective and, specifically, Christ's. So we will go straight to the third chapter of Matthew, beginning at verse 3, where the Saviour prophesies the signs preceding the fall of Jerusalem followed by the signs which will be preceding His Second Advent (Coming). This teaching would still have been relatively fresh in the mind of the apostle John, the author of the Apocalypse, even though 50 or so years would already have passed. What I particularly want you to note is that in Yah'shua's (Jesus') prophecy we find the same threefold division as we have in the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls/Vials. In other words, Matthew 24 is going to be a tremendous help in helping us understand Revelation 6-16!

Let's read the text - we'll be using the New King James Version (NKJV) unless I say otherwise:

3 "Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the talmidim (disciples -specifically, Peter, James and John, the presiding apostles - see Mark) came to [Christ] privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your [second] coming, and of the end of the æon (age - 'world' in other translations)?' 4 And Yah'shua (Jesus) answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines (2nd seal), pestilences (3rd seal), and earthquakes (7th seal) in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false nevi'im (prophets) will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because Torahlessness (lawlessness) will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

15 "'Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the qadosh (holy place)" (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath (when the gates of the City were closed). 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. 23 Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah (Christ)!' or 'There!' do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs (christs) and false nevi'im (prophets) will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

29 "'Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His malakim (angels) with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt.24:3-31, NKJV).

No doubt this is a passage you are very familiar with. It is, however, an important key to the Book of Revelation, informing us of specific things to come. Three of the seven seals are described by the Saviour (famine, pestilence and earthquakes - v.7) and then He goes on, critically, to give us a 'timing key', namely, that these are "the beginning of sorrows" (v.8), implying much more is to follow. As we discussed last week, the motif of the four horsemen isn't a single happening or event - it's been going on for centuries! Neverthess, there is to be a last great consummation which reverses the fall and brings the whole rotten structure of spiritual Babylon and Egypt to an end.

Verse 15 onwards seems to suggest that Christ's immediate audience - the "you" - were to be (and have long since become) the witnesses of another "abomination of desolation" that was yet-to-come in their immediate future, which is an ongoing, cyclical, repeating blasphemy that is the delight of the demonic forces as often as they can get humans to commit it. We know one such "abomination" happened earlier in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes in the Maccabean period before the Roman occupation, when the temple was defiled by (amongst other things) the sacrifice of a pig on the Altar of Yahweh; we know it happened when the Romans defiled and destroyed the temple in 70 AD, to which this particular prophecy must have been pointing, and we know it will yet happen again spiritually when the physical bodies of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones), which are temples of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) (1 Cor.3:16; 6:19), are defiled by any number of abominations, such as by eating pork or sexual immorality.

Unlike the previous two abominations, which were distinct events (or at least within a very short space of time), the third one has been ongoing since the beginning of the New Covenant. Indeed, there must be as many "abomination of desolation" events as there have been, still are, and will be (until the Second Coming) people willing to defile their temples with sin. Indeed, one such abomination, could well be the voluntary acceptance of man-made genetic modification of the human genome, thereby defacing Yahweh's chief creation, altering His own biochemical creation signature. Could all of this defilement also be the "mark of the beast"? That is something we can examine when we come to chapters 13-16, and 19-20. As there is so much crazy speculation going on about this, it would be as well that you prepare yourself in advance of that future study, and to that end you can see an article I prepared about 20 years ago called, The Mark of the Beast: What is It?.

Knowing whether John wrote Revelation, his Gospel, and three epistles - before or after AD 70 - is rather important in framing the Book of Revelation in a particular time period so that we can know what the apostle was talking about. I have long taken the view it was written in the 90's after the destruction of the Temple but not, as is popular with liberals, much later in the second century. I gave my reasons earlier on in the course. Here, in Matthew, in the early 30's, there can be little doubt that Yah'shua (Jesus) is telling His listeners that the destruction of the Temple (in AD 70) is the 'next big event' on the prophetic calendar which they need to be prepared for.

Anglican Bishop John A.T.Robinson in his seminal book, Redating the New Testament [1], which I read as a new convert back in 1977 a year after its publication, makes a compelling case for the whole New Testament, including Revelation, being completed before AD 70. The reason? The single, most datable and climactic event of that period of time - the fall of Jerusalem and, with it, the collapse of institutional Judaism based on the temple - is never once mentioned as a past fact in the New Testament. It is only predicted. Something as momentous, catastrophic and traumatic as that would have been mentioned in Scripture as often as it was the first time when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and sacked Jerusalem. It's all over the latter part of the Old Testament - there's even a whole book called Lamentations bewailing the fate of the survivors in exile and the loss of their temple, capital and country.

If Robinson is correct in his assessment, as may he well be, then when John lived and wrote Revelation, the Jerusalem temple may still have been standing and its second-time destruction still anticipated. Hopefully we will have resolved this issue by the time we come to the end of this course. In the meantime we must be open, scrupulously honest and, like good scholars, be led wherever the evidence takes us. I mention this also to give you another example of the critical realism approach to Scripture study that we employ here.

Setting that important question aside for now, let's go ahead read and today's main text as we continue sorting out, arranging and placing the pieces of this important prophetic jigsaw puzzle called the Book of Revelation:

"1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the [first] seals; and I heard one of the four Seraphim (Zoa, Living Creatures) saying with a voice like thunder, 'Come {and see} (or 'Go!' [2])'. 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

"3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second Seraph (Zoan, Living Creature) saying, 'Come {and see} (or 'Go!' [2])'. 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take shalom (peace) from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.

"5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third Seraph (Zoan, Living Creature) saying, 'Come {and see} (or 'Go!' [2])'. So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four Seraphim (Zoa, Living Creatures), 'A quart (measure) of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts (measures) of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.'

"7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth Seraph (Zoan, Living Creature) saying, 'Come {and see} (or 'Go!' [2])'. 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale [green] horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth" (Rev.6:1-8, NKJV).

Right from the very beginning of the seven seals, Christians and Messianics have been thrown off track by making a false, if understandable, assumption: that the rider on the first horse - the white horse - is the Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) Himself going out and 'conquering' for the Gospel. This is where we have to be very careful in making scriptural associations which may either be Ruach (Spirit)-directed, based on faulty reasoning, or entirely random. Don't make the mistake of so many believers who often assume that the first thought that comes into their head when reading Scripture is Elohim (God) speaking! It could just as easily be your own inner processes at work divorced from the spirit of revelation because people make concept associations based on previous encounters with similar topics, rather as children imagine shapes in the sky when looking at cloud formation. No two people make exactly the same mental associations. That means you are going to have to test - and sometimes thoroughly test - the thoughts that spring suddenly to your mind by discovering their roots. Intuition, like the 'gut-feeling', certainly has its place but it is never to be universally and uncritically relied upon. There are always three possible sources for claimed 'inspiration': the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit = Elohim/God), yourself, or the devil so those who claim to possess inspiration have no better than a 33 per cent chance of being right statistiacally-speaking.

It's as well we underline this tendency in fallible man early on because, as you already know, not all Biblical symbols are used equally or in the same way. By that I mean - and this is an example I have cited many times - a lion can be both a symbol of Christ and Satan (the roaring lion seeking to entrap careless believers).

So understand early on that personal revelation does not mean you can avoid being a careful student of Scripture by carelessly claiming (as some do, and often misquoting Scripture to do so), that Christians should never be taught by others and only directly by Elohim (God) Himself, never by a human teacher (which is a future, not a present, condition). This is clearly contradicted by Paul who says the Body has need of teachers until it comes to collective perfection (1 Cor.12:28-29) and I have noticed over the years that those who claim to not need teachers tend to be 'solo-Christians' who choose to have little or anything to do with any sort of congregational life. Many have been my teachers but I have needed to test them all. More often than not, it is the lazy that prefer 'revelation' or 'personal inspiration' over careful and painstaking study. They are mutual assistants, not mutually exclusive ways of 'doing Scripture'.

As imitators of Christ, who was both a learner and a teacher, clearly we need to be both. As a child He sat at the feet of instructors in the temple (Lk.2:46), and later spent His entire ministrry teaching His talmidim (disciples). He prepared His students and set them to share the thus learned emet (truth) with others. and even used teaching imagery in his illustrations and sermons, as all preachers do, and reminds us:

"A talmid (disciple) is not above his teacher, and everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher" (Lk.6:40, ESV).

The excuse that this was said before 'Pentecost' and did not apply to those who were 'Spirit-filled' after 'Pentecost', is contradicted by Paul who later affirmed the duty to educate the community of qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones):

"Let the davar (word) of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom" (Col.3:16, ESV).

Take another 'lion'-type example. Just because the colour 'white' is associated with purity and goodness, it doesn't always refer to purity and goodness. Does not Satan masquerade as a malak (angel) of light? The appearance may be of purity and goodness but the reality is anything but. Does not the skin of Caucasians go pale and white when we are ill sometimes? And take the opposite colour, black: is this exclusively a negative colour, to be associated only with darkness and evil? On the contrary, because black can also symbolise depth and mystery, for does not Elohim (God) also dwell in darkness? (Ex.20:21) Does He not Himself declare through the navi (prophet) Isaiah:

"I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am Yahweh,
the Elohim (God) of Israel, who summons you by name" (Isa.45:3, NIV).

I belabour this point purposefully because so many Christians, including distinguished theologians, 'assume' that the rider on the white horse 'must' be Christ because he is carrying a bow - as in bow-and-arrow - and therefore this 'must' (they conclude) have something to do with the messianic prophecy in Psalm 45 which reads:

"In your majesty ride forth victoriously
in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness;
let your right hand display awesome deeds.
Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies;
let the nations fall beneath your feet" (Ps.45:4-5, NIV).

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that a prophetic description such as the white horse with its kingly rider about one kind of reality can't usefully be used to make a connection with another one. Since Satan is all about counterfeiting truth, the counterfeit can point an experienced detective back to the original truth being counterfeited. Someone reading the Book of Revelation for the first time, when coming to chapter 6 about the first four seals and their respective horsemen, and specifically to the first one about the white horse, having never before read what the Book of Revelation says later about another white horse being ridden by a Conquering Messiah leading the host of the redeemed, or never having heard of this passage spoken by a someone else, would, I suggest, not assume that the rider of the first white horse is Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). Only after reading the later second white horse passage in Revelation 19:11, or hearing other Christians/Messianics speak of it, might he then think back on the first one and assume - make the assumption - that because two white horses are involved that the two riders must somehow be one-and-the-same.

That's why I claim that a person having never heard of Calvinism or Calvinistic doctrine would never, in reading the Bible, 'see' Calvinistic teachings there. Everyone I ever met who is a Calvinist now was one because some other Calvinist taught him about Calvanism, not because he read the Bible doctrinally innocent and Calvinism leaped out of the pages at him. Reading the Bible innocently and you are always struck by the fact that humans have free choice. We are very impressionable when it comes to others and it is by no means easy to read Scripture without being influenced by what other people say.

So to make a later association between the first and second white horses is understandable. Not only that, but there is some justification in assuming that since the two symbols are the same (white horses) what we're supposed to make a connection if only to contrast the counterfeit with the original - or in this case, contrast a wordly symbol with a spiritual one because Satan's world counterfeits the heavenly one. The devil is certainly a 'conqueror', imitating what the Messiah does, but does so with entirely different motives - destructive as opposed to redemptive. It is this kind of 'associating' in Scripture that Hebrews call drash or midrash, reading one's own thoughts into a scriptural text (eisegesis, as opposed to exegesis) which then becomes grist for the mill of human intellect which can either be guided...by Yahweh (for creative purposes), by man himself (for his own fantasy) or by Satan (for destructive purposes). So there is great risk involved in using this mode of interpretation. Yes, the second rider of a white horse is like the first one but they are still different in important details which I'd like to examine more fully now.

Back to Psalm 45:4-5. First of all, this is a description of David and the Davidic Kingdom, so the primary meaning is King David's reign. Yes, it points to Messiah too (an example of a cloaked prophecy, i.e. a prophecy hidden within an actual human event about something else), but the specific, historial details concern David. As all monarchs of the day, the bow was a common weapon of war, and whilst ancient weapons (like the sword) may, and are, often represented symbolically to describe the power wielded by Messiah, we all know Yah'shua (Jesus) won't be firing literal arrows from a literal bow when He returns. He isn't a Roman cupid firing the equivalent of romantic darts. I mention the obvious because there will always be careless and uninformed Bible readers who take all prophetic imagery to be literal, as the flat-earthers do in the realm of science (about which they tend to know little, and understand even less). The fact that we say 'the sun rises' doesn't mean it literally rises but is a description of its 'appearance' from a human perspective. In reality the earth turns on its axis. Again, another example of translating metaphor into 'critical reality'.

Of course, those who think the white rider is the conquering Christ don't just cite Psalm 45 to support their claim. There is no doubt that the four horsemen are part of the overall scene of divine judgment covered in Revelation 6-16, and whilst judgment is carried out through human agents, ultimately it is Yahweh who is pushing the divine agenda viâ malakim (angels) acting on unsuspecting men, which cannot be stopped. And, yes, He uses human agents, even pagans like Nebuchadnezzar (to punish Judah and take them into exile) and another pagan, Cyrus (who let the Babylonian exiles return home) to accomplish His purposes sometimes. That may seem strange to some who want everything to be 'simple' and 'comprehensible' at all times, but Yahweh is far greater than us so of course He appears 'mysterious'. And when it comes to prophetic events predicted by the nevi'im (prophets), "some things arrive on their own mysterious hour, on their own terms, and not ours, to be seized or relinquished forever" (Gail Godmin).

Misinterpretations arise when similar but not identical symbols are used from different periods of history about different events, as in the famous prophecy of Zechariah 6 which some Bible students try to force together with Revelation 6:1-8 and make them one-and-the-same event, which they're not:

"I looked up again-and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains - mountains of bronze! The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled (pale green) - all of them powerful. I asked the malak (angel) who was speaking to me, 'What are these, my lord?'

"The malak (angel) answered me, 'These are the four spirits (ruachot) of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Sovereign of the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.'

"When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, 'Go throughout the earth!' So they went throughout the earth.

"Then he called to me, 'Look, those going toward the north country have given my Ruach (Spirit) rest in the land of the north'" (Zech.6:1-8, NIV; cp.1:8).

Now though this prophecy is similar to John's in Revelation 6, there are clearly major differences. The same kind of tavnith or pattern is involved, the number 4 standing out. This is clearly about judgment too which is described in terms of four winds. Only this time there are four chariots, and there are therefore more than 4 horses altogether as each chariot has at least two horses. Chariots often had multiple spans of horses and more than one rider. But this is not an end-time prophecy even though Messiah, who is spoken of as "the Branch", is prophesied for the distant future. Rather, the hope here in Zechariah is in the rebuilding of the Temple after Babylonian exile. Because Messiah is pointed at in Zechariah, the assumption (and it's just an assumption) is made that the rider of the white horse of Revelation 6:2 must therefore be Him too...because of Revelation 19:11. (But you can't just randonly couple Scriptures together. It doesn't work like that). Numerous works of art have therefore depicted the rider of the white horse as King Yah'shua (Jesus). Yes, Yah'shua (Jesus) comes as an end-time conqueror to be sure, but He is not the first horseman of the apocalypse riding a white horse! Sorry, but art is not infallible, and can often be one of those associations that words can trigger in our minds.

It's an understandable mistake but it's still a dangerous mistake. Why dangerous? Because by falsely associating the Saviour with the other three horsemen, theologies have arisen (like Kingdom Now doctrine) which says Christians must ussher in the Millennium themselves using political power and the might of armies in war...which inevitably leads to famine and pestilence. This is the Neo-Conservative Heresy. Others 'spiritualise' this by saying that as the rider of the white horse of the apocalypse He comes as a 'demon-killer' which is contradicted by other passages which say the demons are imprisoned when He returns and are, in any case, released one last time at the end of the Millennium so they're not 'slain'. So let me reiterate this warning, which I am sure I will do many times throughout this course - don't jump to premature conclusions based on movies, artwork, and the mistaken commentaries of others, and don't attributed them to the 'Spirit' just because you think you're 'Spirit-filled' and think you have a direct 'phone line to the Throne Room in all matters. Be careful. Be a studious Berean instead. Roll your sleaves up and do some careful homework.

One false assumption can, and usually does, lead to many more and before long you're building a house of cards as the flat-earthers, rapturists and others do. And before you know it, the theory that's based on assumptions gets elevated to a dogma and becomes an article of faith that leads to...yet another denomination. Those who assume the white horse's rider is Christ, before very long, start recruiting Matthew 24:14 (about taking the Gospel into the world and then the end comes) and even Revelation 19:11 which is a different white horse that Yah'shua (Jesus) as Conqueror rides! These things snowball out of control and often all because of one false assumption. Just think what defeminising the Ruach haQodessh (Holy Spirit) has led to over the past two millennia - on the one hand, blasphemy and idolatry (in elevating the Virgin Mary into a virtual goddess and co-saviour with Christ) and on the other, extreme-patriarchy and male chauvanism by kicking the feminine out of the Elohimhead (Godhead).

So what exactly are we dealing with in Revelation 6:2? Who is the man on the white horse? He symbolises the war-mongering, conquering kings of the earth who have charged to and fro, overcoming mighty nations and claiming sovereignty (as represented by the "crown") over them. What happens when the seals are opened is that the forces of human conquest and oppression are allowed to do their worst, before the divine purpose (which is to deal with the world's ills) can be read from the scroll. This interpretation fits far better with the purpose of the second, third and fourth horsemen. We don't, in any case, need the first horseman to be Christ in order to uphold an end-times doctrine. Revelation 19:11 does that all on its own. So let's stick with accuracy.

The second opened seal reveals the fiery red horse whose rider takes from the earth even the superficial appearance of peace, something we see having happened in every century, including our own. Every dictatorship promotes and uses 'peace' as a cover of their real intentions before pursuing war and conquest. The two Koreas are still technically at war in spite of an armistice that's lasted since the 1950's. Russia and Japan are the same. Then there's the 'religion of peace' which is anything but peaceful, and is responsible for unspeakable acts of violence, brutality, cruelty and murder. The old institutionalised 'Christian' Churches are responsible for similar horrors though on a much smaller scale. But you get the point. Peace is, and always has been, elusive in the world, and is used cynically for propaganda.

The black horse, third in line, symbolises the economic problems which so often lie at the root of violence within and between nations, namely, famine. Ordinary commodities, the staple diet of poor people, shoot up in price while luxury items, such as oil and wine, stay the same, allowing the rich once more to get richer at the expense of the poor, though this time round in the Penultimate Judgment that seems to be changing too. We are going through such a time right now in the West thanks to a plandemic that decimated economies because of forced lockdowns and industries closing down, with another apparently on the way, and a war in Eastern Europe which has simply added to the chaos as old political and national rivalries break out into sanctions and open threats of war.

The pale green/blanched/pallid/sickly-looking horse horse (the exact appearance depends on the translation), fourth in line, carries Death on its back and with Hades (Sheol), the abode of the dead, as a personified creature following behind - it is the ultimate threat of every tyrant and every anarchist, but is also the natural consequence of disease and epidemics caused by war, economic collapse and famine. Human history records that, again and again, war, famine and disease, and a thousand other things have carried people off before their time. This time, in the 'final repeat', as it were, it's global, affecting every country.

These four horsemen on their horses are the basic ills which humans inflict upon one another. They are not one single prophetic event in the future though clearly a final cycle is here in view as witnessed by the last three seals which we'll discuss next week. The four horsemen charge off around the world, and must be allowed to do this. Why? So that the saving message of the unsealed Scroll can have its full effect. Why does Yahweh allow them to do their worst? Because the problems they represent have to be tackled head-on, not side-stepped.

For far too long - and you only have to look at the 20th century for a prime example - the churches have only healed the wounds of the human race superficially, declaring "peace, peace" (Jer.6:14) when there is no peace, except at the superficial level. Most people are unwilling to look below the surface and see the dark forces at work. But if Yahweh's New Creation is to be brought to birth, as it must in order to commence the Millennium of Shalom (Peace), the deepest ills of the old, fallen creation must first be exposed, spotlighted in the light of truth, and then dealt with.

That is why at this very time we live in now there is both such terrible evil and exposure of all the evil the wicked power-élites, deeply steeped in occultism and satanism, have tried to hide for so long. Think of all the exposés now happening, with the ordinary folks gaining more and more traction by the day. Satan's agents are being stripped naked for all to see and his agenda made plain. We're being shown what's really going on in our world and in ourselves in a way that only tribulation can accomplish because neither the élites, nor the average man and woman, are otherwise going to deal with the root issues. We have to see the monsters we have believed and soundly reject them, including those within us. That is why crises are permitted.

It's a sad truth, to be sure, but most don't fully repent until they're well and truly shaken and beaten-up. And whilst crises provide opportunities for the élites to exploit and so push their agendas, crises are a double-edged sword, simultaneously exposing the élites who run the risk of being lynched by the infuriated masses whose eyes are now open. So they are taking a huge gamble in sticking their necks out for none of them knows whose head might be lopped off next. In the end the odds will be so heavily stacked against them that they can't possibly survive. Even then, Yahweh promises to speed up end-time events for the sake of the elect so they aren't completely destroyed (Mt.24:22; Mk.13:20).

We should probably take this opportunity to think about how the symbolism of Revelation 6-16 works. Obviously the four horsemen, and the riders, are symbols, another reason why Yah'shua (Jesus) can't be the rider on the white horse since He's a literal Person. John does not expect his readers to presently look out their windows and see these sinister characters riding by on the streets of Ephesus, Smyrna or any of the other five congregations of Asia Minor. But the sequence may be symbolic too because conquest isn't followed neatly and seamlessly by violence, or violence by economic disaster, and economic disaster by widespread death. Yes, they're connected, but not so tidily. They are separated out in the prophetic way of relating things so that we can see and properly flesh out the components. The use of words forces us to dissect and lay out on display, arranging them in a way that makes sense to us.

It's the same with salvation, a complex thing that can't be parsed out into A+B+C events because everyone experiences the sequence, intensity and content rather differently. But we can dissect out the essential elements, like conviction of sin, repentance, and spiritual rebirth, list them, and explain them, as the New Testament writers do; but I challenge you to find two people who have experienced salvation in exactly the same way even if the final result is the same: peace of mind and soul, a sense of being washwed clean, or being renewed, and a new heart full of love for Elohim (God) and people. We need to see many of the symbolic elements of the Book of Revelation in the same way.

Perhaps another way of explaining this would be the way we communicate with words and with music. In music, you can have several lines which are all played on instruments or sung at the same time; but with words you have to say everything in sequences. This sevenfold sequence (four down, three to go, so far) is not necessarily always chronological in every aspect. It is an exposition of a sevenfold reality. How many of you, when experiencing the presence of Elohim (God), can tell the difference between the Father, Son and Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit)? We experience them as one or echad even if the individual members of the Elohimhead (Godhead) may be doing different things, performing different rôles. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, over time, Christians stopped referring to the 'Father', 'Son' and 'Holy Spirit' and simply lumped them all together as 'Lord'. I'm not saying that's right, just that that's the sort of thing we tend to do. As I've mentioned before, we have a tendency to simplify...sometimes too much.

Now there are those who would use this truth in defence of their interpretation of the seals, trumpets and bows/vials to claim they're all jumbled up or at least that the three sets are layered one upon the other and are just the same events being seen from different angles. But such correspondences as there are, are limited, as I have already pointed out, so I believe a sequence is intended. Rather, we should look at these 'sets of sequences' as something that repeat, and have repeated, in history - the cyclical history model. Most Christians and Messianics I know are absolutely sure that those seals are opening now and that we're cascading toward Antichrist manifesting in person and the Great Tribulation. And the reason they're making this mistake, may I suggest, is because what we're witnessing in this Penultimate Judgement is something similar, just as believers have done in every age when crisis has followed on the heels of crisis in an apparently relentless and uncontrollable fashion. However, as you look back over the events of the last few years, for example, you will find events missing from the tavnith or pattern of the seals, trumpets and bowls/vials. That's a tell-tale sign that what we're going through is a foreshadowing only and not the actual final events described in Revelation 6-16.

With each repeating cycle of events over the generations, Yahweh establishes a little bit more of His Kingdom piecemeal, like the production of a jigsaw puzzle. This is a reason I stress the importance of doing history and it is probably a reason history is so de-emphasised in élite-controlled state-sponsored schools nowadays so as to keep people ignorant of the patterns. A panicked population unaware of the past is the more easily manipulated and controlled than one that is informed and sure of where it's going. Coronavirus and Monkeypox don't fit the pattern of the final events described in the Book of Revelation because they are artificial constructs of man. No, we must learn from the plagues of the first Egyptian Exodus if we are to properly understand the plagues of the last Global Exodus, for in both Yahweh rescued, and will rescue, His people provided they keep trusting Yahweh and obey the mitzvot (commandments). Read Isaiah 4 which says similar events will take place at the end as at the beginning, including the people of Elohim (God) being led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (v.5). That prophecy hasn't been fulfilled yet so it has to be factored into the end-times story.

So let's summarise what we have talked about today. The breaking of the first four seals releases the 'four horsemen of the apocalypse' who represent, respectively:

• 1. War in its aspect of subjugating peoples to one another;
• 2. War in its aspect of hate between nations and individuals;
• 3. Inequitable economic distribution (the super rich and the super poor) leading to a scarcity of goods like food; and
• 4. The death which results from the first three (war + wild animals = hate; famine = inequitable distribution) and from disease (=plagues).

There are clearly parallels to Leviticus 16:11-26 and Ezekiel 14:12-20, which speak of similar judgments. Compare these also with the ravagers at Jeremiah 15:3,24; 24:10; 29:17; Ezekiel 5:17; 14:21 which I'll leave you to read privately as we don't have time to incorporate all that material here today. We have also made comparisons with Zechariah 6:2-3. The four Living Creatures, Zoa or Seraphim, which also make their reappearance here, are seen to be associated with the first four seals, respectively, as if directing Yahweh's agenda, as they did in Zechariah's prophecy of the chariots with similar horses. We met them in Revelation 4:6 the first time round.

We have also seen that the rider on the white horse cannot be Christ even though Yah'shua (Jesus) is later depicted as a conqueror in Revelation 19:11 and onwards. Putting Him among the other three riders makes Him but one rider among many, and the other three bring judgment, not relief. It is, as I have said, better to see this symbolic rider as bringing judgment in the form of war and conquest, which is pretty much the history of the whole earth.

Which leaves us with but one last thing to talk about, the contents of verse 6:

"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four Seraphim (Zoa, Living Creatures), 'A quart/[dry] measure (choinix, 'two pounds' - JNT, 'a ration' - JB, 'a loaf' - NLT) of wheat for a denarius ('a whole day's wage' - NEB), and three quarts/measures of barley for a denarius; and do not harm ('damage' - NIV) [3] the oil and the wine'" (Rev.6:6, NKJV).

Faminies were foretold in the Bible many times before the Book of Revelation, from Genesis onwards (2 Ki.6:25; 7:1, Ac.11:28). So why shouldn't this famine in Revelation be literal too? And if, according to some, the elect are all going to be whisked away and spared this suffering, as the Rapturists mistakenly believe, and since the Book of Revelation was written for the elect, why bother writing it at all since they won't, according to their belief, be here on earth any longer and it won't therefore concern them? Answer: because they will be here, and will have been forewarned by modern nevi'im (prophets) as they were anciently. That's why you have been warned again and again, with ever increasing urgency, to get prepping. Wake up! It's about to happen now and it will happen one last time after that in the days of the last generation. A lot of foolish rapturists are going to starve to death, and all because of a false doctrine based on faulty assumptions, not to mention ignorance. Yah'shua (Jesus) said: "There shall be famines" (Mt.24:7) and I am going to warn people, not to make a name for myself when it happens, but because I love them and want to see them survive. I hope you're doing the same because some of them will never forgive you if failed to warn them when they might have saved themselves after believing you.

Next week we shall look at the last three of the seven seals and then assess the seven as a whole. May Yahweh, in the meantime, move you to move if you're stationary, and to move faster if your dragging your heels and not doing all you ought to be doing. Yahweh provides for those who provide, and provides for those genuinely unable to provide for themselves through others provided for but they must absoluteky be willing to prep and to have made a serious effort to do so. Those refusing to, expecting to sponge of others who have been obedient, will starve. Time is nearly out. Yahweh bless you all as you dop what it right. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] John A.T.Robinson, Redating the New Testament (SCM Press, London: 1976)
[2] E.W.Bullinger, The words "and see" are not found in any Greek manuscript and are omitted by modern translations. The Greek erchomai can mean 'accompany', 'appear', 'bring', 'come', 'enter', 'fall out', 'go', 'grow', etc.. 'Go' is favoured by Bullinger as also David Stern (JNT/CJB). The NRSV indicates that either 'come' or 'go' may be used.
[3] cp. Revelation 7:1,3; 9:4; 6:7

Acknowledgements

[1] David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (Collins, London: 2007)
[2] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011)
[3] E.W.Bullinger*, Number in Scripture (Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1967)
[4] E.W.Bullinger*, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michihan: 1984)
[5] E.W.Bullinger*, The Companion Bible being the Authorized Verion of 1611 with Structures & Critical Explanatory Notes (Samuel Bagster & Sons Ltd., London: 1974), pp.1883-1914
[6] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNT Publications, Clarksville, Maryland: 1992)

*E.W.Bullinger was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and scholar whose works merit careful study by serious students of the Bible. He was, however, seriously in error in at least three main areas, namely, (1) he believed the 'Church' has been raptured before the Book of Revelation opens, (2) he believed that the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3 are 7, literal Jewish churches or assemblies yet to come, and (3) he believed in a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture.

• 1. White horse - military aggression
• 2. Red horse - bloodshed
• 3. Black horse - famine
• 4. Pale Green/Blanched/Pallid/Sickly-looking horse - disease, epidemics

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• 5. Persecution & prayer
• 6. Tremour & terror

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• 7. Silence in heaven, listening to prayers which are then answered in a final catastrophe: a severe earthquake

• 1. Scorched earth
• 2. Polluted sea
• 3. Contaminated water
• 4. Reduced sunlight

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• 5. Insects and plague (for five months)
• 6. Oriental invasion (200 million army)

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• 7. The Kingdom comes, the world is taken over by Yahweh & Yah'shua (Jesus) after a severe earthquake

• 1. Boils on the skin
• 2. Blood in the sea
• 3. Blood from the springs
• 4. Burning by the sun

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• 5. Darkness
• 6. Armageddon

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• 7. Hailstorm (OB 368:11-12) and severe earthquake, leading to international collapse