The Four Horses mentioned in the Book of Revelations

In Revelations 6:1-8, the Lord gave a description of what will be happening to the Earth before His return. There will be four beasts sitting on four different colored horses and each horse represents different calamities and horrors. And when one compares what is written in Revelations with Jesus' own words in Matthew 24:4-8, one cannot help but realize that we are indeed living in those times.

The white horse of Rev 6:2 warns us of the work of the Deceiver who goes around teaching false doctrines about Christ (he held in his left hand a bow). Some even give him the name of anti-Christ. Jesus called him the false christ (Matthew 24:4-5) since he goes around claiming that he is the one whom the world is waiting for.

The red horse of Rev 6:4 warns us of wars and bloodshed as the beast held in his right hand a drawn sword. Jesus prophesied in Matt 24:6-7 that there will be wars and rumors of wars before His return and indeed there have been more wars in the last century compared to the combined period since modern history records were kept. Every day we will hear of violence some where in the world and it is not letting up.

The beast on the black horse of Rev 6:5 had a pair of scales in his hands and his assigned task was to measure up the grains and the wine and the oil in the world - he represented famine and Jesus warned us in Matt 24:7(a) of the coming famine. I suppose we need not look far to realize that in the world there are many places where acute famine had crept in and with the current political and economic turmoil, this will not be hard to recognize.

The beast on the pale horse was called specifically Death in Rev 6:7-8. Jesus warned us in Matt 24:7(b) that there will be pestilences and earthquakes in many places before His return. Pestilences in this instance also encompassed plagues and diseases. I would also want to point out that there had been more earthquakes occurring over the past ten years than the sum total of all earthquakes taken together since records were kept and it should also be noted that the magnitudes of all the quakes have intensified - no longer are we experiencing the minor quakes of 3 and below on the Richter scale but tremors of 5.0 and above are common day occurrences.

And it should be noted that the order of occurrences of the four beasts had been revealed in that order as recorded for us in the Scriptures. And Jesus ended His prophesy in Matt 24:8 when He said that the signs were there only to signify the beginning of sorrows. So what am I alluding to? that all these signs were to take place to point to the end; it is still not the End yet but these will take place to warn us of His imminent return.

Will we all have to experience the period of sorrows? I believe in the interpretation that this is the period called the Tribulation in the Bible and that Christians will not go through this trying period as the Lord will come and take His Church away to be with Him and then Tribulation will set in. It will only be after the seven years are up will our Lord return as the reigning King of kings over the Earth and He will commence His millennial reign here on a new Jerusalem.

So until our rapture, brothers and sisters in Christ, we will just have to enjoy our time here sharing the love of our Savior with those around us and to point them to the Savior Himself so that they will also join us during the Rapture and not be left behind to endure the Tribulation.