Chapters 6 – 19 describe the seven-year period of the Great Tribulation on the earth.  The appointed time that the righteous and holy judgment of God will be poured out on a Christ-rejecting world.  And the first scene we will see are the four horsemen of Revelation here in Chapter 6 Verses 2 – 8.  Beginning with the white horse, then the red horse, then the black horse, then the pale horse.  Each one carrying a certain woe, each one bring with them a sentence upon the earth as a result of sin and unrighteousness.

And these horsemen closely resemble, may or may not be the same, as what the angel showed the prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 6.  We read in Zechariah 6 verses 1 – 8 of this vision given to him as he talked with an angel.  A vision that followed some interestingly similar scenes as what we’ve seen already in our survey thus far through Revelation.

He is shown a vision of the High Priest in Chapter 3, just as John turned and saw standing there…Jesus in Revelation Chapter 1.  Zechariah was shown the vision of the lampstand and the olive trees, a picture of the church and God’s people….just as John was shown Jesus among the seven golden lampstands in Chapter 1 of Revelation and the scene of the 24 elders before the throne of God in Revelation Chapter 4.

In Chapter 5 of Zechariah, He was shown a vision of a flying scroll…just as John saw the scroll taken out of the hand of God the Father by the One found worthy…the Lamb slain…the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  Finally, leading up to and directly before being shown the vision of the four chariots with the four horses, Zechariah was shown a basket that went forth throughout the entire earth.  And in the basket, a resemblance of a woman sitting inside…and the angel said to Zechariah…this woman..is Wickedness!

And then boom…the four horses!  And that lines up pretty dag-on well with where we are here in the chronological order of events in Revelation.  The church is removed.  The rapture has taken place right there in the beginning of Chapter 4 as God declares “Meta Touta.”  The restraining power of the Holy Spirit has been moved out of the way as Paul said would happen in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, and now upon the earth…utter wickedness! 

It’s interesting because the Book of Zechariah begins with a very clear statement from the Lord.  An indictment against man as we read, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, “return to Me and I will return to you.  Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds”  And yet God continues, “But they did not hear nor heed Me.”” 

And then verses 5 and 6 of Zechariah Chapter 1 give us the result.  It says, “Thus says the Lord, Your fathers, where are they?  And the prophets, do they live forever?  Yet surely My words and My statutes which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?”  So they returned and said, “Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He has dealt with us.”

Notice, God gives truth, man has choice.  In this case, they do not listen nor do they live out the truth of God in their lives and therefore notice…they return and proclaim judgment upon themselves!

In Jeremiah 2, verses 17 and 19 we read, “have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God…your own wickedness will correct you, and your own backslidings will rebuke you.  Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not in you, says the Lord of Hosts.”

You see to the people in Jeremiah’s day, to those who rebelled against the Lord and found themselves threatened by external enemies and internal problems, the Lord said, “It’s not that I will punish you.  Rather it will be your own sin that will come back to bite you!”

So too the world here in Revelation 6 has declared as one, corporately, with one voice, “We will not allow this Man Jesus to rule us, tell us what to do…lead us!  (as the crowd called out, not this man but Barabbas!)  We want to do our own thing, we want to call our own shots…live our own lives…”

And in response we read Galatians 6:7, “Don’t be a fool, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”  You see as it is true in the beginning, it is true now and will be true all the way to the end…sin that is not dealt with, turned from and forsaken ultimately will track you down!  Which sins?  Every sin!  There’s no exception!

It’s like playing hide and seek with Madison.  She’s gives her position away!  All you have to do is call out here name and no matter if she is under a bed, in a closet, behind a couch…she yells out, “right here!”  The poor thing never wins…but that is exactly what sin does man…say what you will, think what you will but when it comes time for the truth about you and about me to be sought out, our sin will give us up, sell us out…

Numbers 32:23 says, and yet so many do not believe, “Be sure, your sin will find you out!”  Sin will always take more than you expect, stays for longer than you ever thought, and costs you more than you want to pay!

People say, “well my life is a mess because of him or because of her or because of my job or because of my marriage or because of my parents…”  Not the case at all.  Your life is a mess because of sin!  Who’s sin, YOUR sin and the mess is the price that is exacted, the judgment that you are welcoming into your life man…yet sin continues…evil persists as I hear and you hear them accuse and defend and cry out “unfair!”…no quite fair!  Because sin brings death…

The Bible says be still in the presence of God…cease your accusations and your complaints as Paul would say in 1 Thessalonians 4 that rather you should increase in love towards others…but how?  Something that feels so backwards but is true…Paul writes it in 1 Thes 4…”lead a quiet life…mind your own business and work with your own hands…and in so doing you WILL walk properly, and you WILL lack nothing.”

A man and a woman were in marriage counseling and the wife had come to the end of their rope.  She was planning to divorce.  And their counselor asked her to do one more thing before filing papers.  For the next 30 days…speak no unkind word to your husband.  Every day…compliment him, speak words of encouragement to him…and then after 30 days, come back and we’ll complete the papers.  After 30 days they didn’t show up and so the counselor calls and asks, “hey where are you?  I thought we had an appointment.”  The woman on the other side replied, “divorce?  Not a chance, we’re on our way to our second honey moon!”

You see where you’re at in your discord is not her fault, its not his fault, its not their fault…its sin man.  Repent as God would say to His people, return to Me…not only hear but do…lest you pronounce your own judgment upon yourself. 

And Chapter 6 begins the account of mankind’s sin coming back to bite him because although Jesus is reclaiming the title deed to the earth and all of creation, sin still brings repercussions, sin still exacts a price and that price…is dreadful.

Chapter 6 Verses 1 - 2

• Now later in Chapter 19, we will see a Man upon a white horse however that Man is clearly Jesus Christ.  And that Man is clearly different than this man.  In Chapter 19 the One who sat upon the white horse is called “Faithful and True” and He is clothed in a white robe dipped in blood and His name is called “The Word of God!” 
• Quite different than this man…all except the horse…why?  Because this is the counterfeit you see.  The One whom they will worship as the Messiah however he is and will be absolutely false…this is the Anti-Christ.
• We see that he has a crown as opposed to many crowns that we see upon Jesus in Chapter 19 and this crown is not a “diadem” in the Greek which is a permanent crown but this is a “stephanos” in the Greek which is more of a wreath made of olive branches that only lasts a short while.  And this man goes forth conquering and to conquer, which is a specific word, its “nikao” which could mean victorious as in a court of law…and so here the idea is not entirely to conquer as in a brute force fashion but to subdue diplomatically…and look at his weapon of choice…the bow. 
• The word “bow” tends to conjure up an image of a bow and arrow but I’m not sure that’s the idea here.  This word “toxon” simply means, “a bow” and we have no baseline for this word in any other part of the New Testament…this is the only time in the Bible that we see this word…its only used once…why?   Because it’s specific I believe.  Its one of a kind I believe, not just a bow an arrow but something else.  Another bow, a peculiar bow.
• The first time the bow is mentioned in the Bible, it is a rainbow which was the token of God’s promise of peace (Genesis 9:13).  Now Daniel says that right after the church is raptured, a man will come, making covenant with Israel…a peace treaty, and the entire world will rejoice!  At last someone has solved the middle east problem!  And so yes the conquering and to conquer occurs as this man is accepted and exalted, possibly even by the Jews as their Messiah and thus this bow that John sees could be the same type, the peculiar/specific type just as God set the bow in the air to declare peace…only his peace is false. 
• And thus the first seal is broken…and the Anti-Christ is on the scene, the Great Tribulation has begun…in a seemingly peace, but not for long…

Chapter 6 Verses 3 – 4

• And so war comes…the red horse, red like fire set forth at the breaking of the second seal…the repayment of the debt is taking place upon the earth…and this horse is shown to John by the second living creature…
• We often call this portion of the Bible, “the four horsemen” and that’s correct but notice it is the four living creatures that speak to John here…possibly lining up with the message or the essence of the four gospels as we have seen peace, now war…we’ll continue and see desperation and then finally death…all at the prompting of the four living creatures, “come and see.”
• And this second horse comes to take the peace from the earth…what peace?  The peace established by the man on the white horse…and what kind of war is it?  Is it a war of heaven against earth…no…it’s a war between men…why?  John says here that a great sword was in the midst of the one on the red horse…the same word used for the scripture in other verses such as Hebrews 4:12…and so the red horse, the horse that takes peace…the horse that brings war…carries with him a new sword…and so this is most likely a war charged by religion…the Anti-Christ proclaiming himself to be God…some following, some not…just as in the days of Nebucadnezzer, and so fighting.

Chapter 6 Verses 5 – 6

• And so the third horse…I call this one desperation.  “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius” means that the time of the Tribulation will be so economically oppressive that the masses will exist on rations.  Thus the scales.
• A full day’s wage will only buy a small bit of wheat or barley because of the Antichrist’s system that will be based on the mark of the beast.  A whole days work for a handful of wheat…not bread…notice…why?  Society is reversing you see…Wonder bread…no more!  Ahhh has it already started!?  HA no but it will be like that…loaves of bread one day, factories bustling, people working…then war, and a diplomatic centrality…and no more folks left to work…all the power centralized and we’re back to making cakes in ovens…
• A whole days wage for just a handful…Even if you make minimum wage in today’s American economy, a days wage will buy you 20+ extra value meals from McDonalds…here, a ration a desperate portion of wheat…
• But notice the oil and the wine are not harmed…why?  It could be that the rich, the 1%...are just fine.  A day’s wage for a measure of wheat…how much then would the oil and wine be?  Very expensive…however the rich, which in this economy of the Antichrist will be his inner circle…unharmed…the famine that follows war never seems to affect the wealthy.

Chapter 6 Verses 7 – 8

• And so the final horse…the pale horse…and his rider…Death.  The wages of sin.  Death himself.  And so the false peacemaker is on the scene, the terrible purifying war of the world has occurred from which he exacts his throne and lordship…he now controls the food and therefore controls the people…having them to take a mark of allegiance just to get a little wheat for their families…and finally his reign is completely established…sin has brought its reward…and its hell on earth.
• A fourth of the earth has been killed off…as we saw through the sword with the red horse, through hunger with the black horse and then John says “with death by the beasts of the earth.”
• Now this word beast doesn’t mean some sort of huge grotesque monster…this is the word, “therion” which simply means sometime exceedingly frightful, of any size…and therefore it could be very small, maybe even microscopic which leads me to arrive at some sort of chemical warfare possibly or virus that is used by the Antichrist against the people contributing to the death of billions…
• And so the scene upon the earth through the first four seals is a scene of doom and death as sin reigns…and throughout this revelation that John is receiving, the four living creatures are constantly saying to him, “come and see.”  See what is the price of sin…we would be wise to choose also to “come and see” and to turn from the lies, the little white lies that we hide…our white horses, we would be wise to turn from our own sinful affections that cause strife…
• Strife doesn’t just exist man…James tells us it is our own sinful, selfish lust that brings about strife in our days…its not him, its not her, its not he government, its not your boss that cause you to have strife with them…it takes two to have strife…its your own war man…your red horse…
• We’d be wise to turn from our own greed…our own lusts for luxury, our own black horses man…because following closely behind each of these is the pale horse…death and hell…won’t you today, “come and see” that there is a better way, a most excellent way…love?  And love is without strife, without concern, without fear, without accusation…love is liberty…
• And so next time we’ll watch as the 5^th and 6^th seals are opened as we make our way to the 7^th seal and into the seven trumpet plagues as the terrifying scene of a Christ rejecting world continues to unfold in our understanding through God’s Word.