Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
There are many discussions recently about the end times and about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in particular. I am writing this to try to set the record straight.
About the Apocalypse
First, before discussing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, we have to understand the meaning of the word Apocalypse.
Apocalypse is from the Greek word that is translated Revelation, which means a new understanding or an unveiling. Has anyone ever explained something to you and a light came on in your mind and you understood in a brand new, larger way what was being explained. You had a revelation, a new understanding of the subject.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John
Revelation 1:1
Not a lot of books of the Bible start with a description of what they are about, but Revelation does. In most Bibles, the name of the book is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” which comes from the first part of the first verse of the Book of Revelation.
Do Not Fear the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
As such, this means that this book is not about the end of the world as is often taught, but it is about a new way of understanding Jesus Christ. Most of the things you’ve heard about this book comes from those who wish you to be afraid. Why? Because if you can make someone afraid, you can control them.
If you hear something in a pulpit that makes you afraid then you can guarantee that they are not speaking from God’s heart, because
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Timothy 1:7
So making you afraid is not God’s agenda. In fact, this book says this about itself.
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is [at hand].
Revelation 1:3
So, as you read this, you should feel blessed. If you see something that makes you afraid then your interpretation is wrong. You need to re-read it until you find this blessing in that passage. That’s how you’ll know when your interpretation is right.
The Seven Seals
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the first four of the seven seals. First, then, we have to understand the seven seals.
Now, let’s do a thought experiment. Pretend you are sitting on the couch next to a bookshelf. Someone asks you to take down a specific book and open it to the bookmark. You do so. Now let me ask you, do you spend a bunch of time looking at the bookmark, or do you set the bookmark aside and focus on the page of the book to where it is now opened?
People spend bunches of time talking about the seals and no time talking about the scroll. The scroll is the story. When you understand what the scroll is, then the seals are easy.
Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
Revelation 5: 1
The Right Hand
The first thing it tells us is that the scroll is in the right hand of God. The right hand is the place of authority. Also, this is from a culture whose language, Hebrew, doesn’t even have a word for left. In Hebrew, the Old Testament text refers to the right hand and the other hand. So the right hand is significant.
In Zechariah 4, Zechariah has a vision of Zerubbabel with a plumb line in his right hand. The vision is about Zerubbabel rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem.
When he appears in Revelation 1, Jesus is seen holding the seven stars in his right hand, which, we are told, is the seven churches. So, by the time we get to Revelation 5, we know that someone holding something in their right hand is about building the church. The scroll here, then, is God’s plan for the church. And the only one that can unlock this plan is Jesus.
As Jesus breaks each of the seals, it releases a portion of God’s plan into the Earth. So the horsemen of War, Famine, Plague, and Death are simply facets of God’s plan being unleashed in the Earth.
Have you ever seen someone who gets really sick and, as a result, they get a grip and start serving the Lord? The same as when someone close to them dies and they get a grip as a result? Do you remember after the 9/11 attack, how our entire culture turned to God in record numbers?
So, then, a plague is no different. We can take comfort in the fact that it’s just part of God’s plan being unleashed in the earth. The thing to do is to let the plan work in our lives and turn to God with humility and make him Lord of our lives even more.