These next series of studies and messages anointed by the Holy Ghost should behoove us all to get right with God, stay right with God, and be ready for the rapture of the church age because this year could be the year that Jesus Christ appears in the clouds with great power and glory, and send His angels to gather His elect.
We are to make our call and election sure for that day now, as we are instructed to do by the Holy Ghost, preaching through the the Apostle Peter in, 2 Peter 1:5-11, And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
This study will cover the remaining three horsemenof Revelation 6; The Horsemen of War; Inflation and Death. There are a couple of things to point out about the four horsemen in General. They all were given power and authority to do what they were released to do, and that is:
- They are all working to bring forth judgment of God,
- and ultimately working together to set up the stage for the Antichrist to rule the world.
The Horsemen of War
Revelation 6:3-4 And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And 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.
The next horseman Jesus Christ released into the world without restraint is the spirit of war. As the Holy Bible reveals to us, this horseman was given power to take peace from the earth. His power is to influence people from every nation, tribes and languages to fight against one another successfully.
We know war is an age old practice since the dawn of time for various reasons. So war is obviously nothing new. In fact, the first recorded war in human history is found in Genesis 14, And this spirit has been behind human history of war ever since.
The difference here, is that God Most High (The Father of Jesus Christ) and Jesus Christ Himself gives this horsemen of war permission to do his work that he has always done, but without restraint; globally. As this passage of Scripture shows us, “power was given to him to take peace from the earth that they should kill one another.”
He was given power! Who gave this horsemen power? God and Jesus Christ has given this being permission/authority to take peace from the earth. In fact, He gives permission to all the horsemen mentioned in Revelation 6:1-8.
Because again… And I stress this fact, God is in control of all events and has these horsemen on a leash as well as satan’s kingdom. Because the source of all power and authority comes from God (The supreme Ruler of all creation). And Jesus Christ revealed this as fact while He faced Pontius Pilate before His crucifixion in,
John 19:9-11 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art Thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto Him, Speakest Thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have power to release Thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.
And since God is the source of all power and authority, this means that He disperses power and authority to whomever He wills as Jesus Christ also testifies about Himself after His resurrection but before His ascension,
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.
Again, who gave Jesus Christ all power of Heaven and earth? God His Father! And He also gave this horsemen permission to influence people and governments globally by the power of suggestion and deceptions. Even manipulations by rumors of wars with more frequency and in escalating intensity globally.
Just as Jesus Christ warned us all what was coming in the “Days of Sorrows” as the second sign of the rapture of the church age in,
Matthew 24:6-7 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom
- World War 2 (1939-45)
- First Arab-Israeli War (1948)
- The Suez Crisis (1956)
- The Korean War (!950-53)
- Vietnam War (1954-75)
- 6 Day War (1967)
- Yom Kippur War (1973)
- Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)
- War in Iraq (2003- 2011)
- War in Afghanistan (2001-2014)
- Darfur Conflicts (2003-2020)
- Libya Conflict (2011-Present)
- Syrian Civil War (2011-Present)
- Yemen Conflict 2014-Present)
- Global Coalition to Defeat Isis (2014-Present)
- War of Ukraine and Russia (2022-Present)
- The Palestinian and Israeli War (2023-Present)
- The Turkey and Kurdish Conflict (Present)
- Rumors of War with US and North Korea (Present)
- Rumors of War with US and China (Present)
- Rumors of War with US and Russia (Present)
- Rumors of War with US and Iran (Present)
- Rumors of War with Russia and Sweden (Present)
And why do we believe this horseman is the influencer of war? The last line states, “given unto him a great sword.” Swords were commonly used only for war (offensive and defensively) when John was alive. It wasn’t used for anything else. And He saw a literal sword in the hand of this horsemen. And so the sword universally symbolizes war.
The Horsemen of Inflation
Revelation 6:5-6 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 has a pair of balances in his hand. And 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 that thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
This horsemen is to attack the global economy with inflation for two reasons: He has a pair of balances in his hand, and he is to measure out very little amount of grain (food) for a penny.
That may not sound like much money at first, but let’s put this into perspective. How a balancing scale works in this instance of what the Holy Bible is telling us is: you put a penny on one side of the scale, and then you put a measure of wheat or three measures of barley on the other side until both sides of the scale balance equally.
If you actually do this as an experiment, you will find that you’re not going to get much grain for a penny. And that’s really the point in today’s worth of currency. Now back in Jesus Christ’s day in the First Century, a penny was a day’s wage called a denarius. A denarius was a roman silver coin that was worth back then $3.62. Now a denarius today is only worth 0.0852. Which literally is worthless.
Which means that you cannot buy anything for a denarius or a penny. All because of high taxation; high debt (both personally and nationally) with the cost of living increase caused inflation. In other words, you get very little for a high price. And that’s what this horsemen are sent out to do on a global scale, to disrupt the global economy.
This horsemen is to cause such chaos and disruption in the global economy, every nation in the world will eventually abandon separate national currency and accept a new “one world currency under a one world market” that the Antichrist will put into motion eventually in the “great tribulation period” (Revelation 13)
Now notice, John 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 that thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” Who’s voice did the Apostle John hear? The answer is, the One Who sits on the throne in the midst of the four beasts. God is the One who sit on His throne in the midst of the four beasts according to Revelation 4:2-6. He is the One Who spoke these words. Instructing this horsemen what to do and what not to do.
And what does He mean when He says, “and see that thou hurt not the oil and the wine?” I’ve heard a minister interpret this as being Christians. God giving this horsemen permission to cause financial distress on all but Christians? This could be a plausible interpretation. Because I have seen and experienced first hand Christians thriving financially despite the instability of the national and global markets today.
Now, some Bible Scholars and Commentators have interpreted this passage of Scriptures as “luxury items.” Such as cooking oils, herbal essential oil used for perfumes. Cosmetics such as skin care; hair and beauty products. This would also include in today’s language: “technology.” But the problem of interpreting this passage of Scriptures to be “Luxury Items” would not be accurate. Given the fact that all these things have gone up in price and will never decrease in price again.
In fact, the makers of perfumes and colognes (for example) have decreased the volume of their product, have decreased the quality of the packaging for a higher price. Another perfect example, I personally know multitudes of people who would be happy to spend $1000 dollars in US currency for a new Apple phone every two years.
Alcohol, on the other hand, has not seen much of an increase in price, Today alcohol is still cheaper than bread, milk and wholesome foods. Junk food is cheaper than wholesome foods as well. And that’s what this horsemen have been released to do. To raise prices on all necessities, and we are seeing this happening today on a global scale. In fact global inflation has risen 3-4% in 2023 alone.
The Horsemen of Death
Revelation 6:7-8 And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Notice: of all the four horsemen, we are only given the name of this last horsemen, who’s name is Death whom everybody naturally knows. The spirit of death has been imagined as an old, other worldly being clothed in a black robe, roaming the earth tirelessly with a sickle in hand. And yes this is the same spirit of death that has been around since the fall of man (Genesis 3/Romans 5)
So death is nothing new. There is nothing natural about death either, because death was not created by God to begin with. Gods’ original plan for all humanity… We were meant to live forever on this earth in close fellowship with God literally face to face without sin nor the influence of sin.
But when Eve and Adam chose to sin against God, sin and death moments after came into the world. And we know through the Holy Bible that sin originated with the devil, therefore death was also appointed by satan (the devil that serpent of old) as well.
We also know Biblically that Death did not come from God originally because Death is an enemy of God as much as satan is the enemy of God also. In fact Death is the last enemy to be destroyed according to,
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
This other idea we have about this spirit of death, is that he roams around the earth waiting for people to die before He ushers their souls to the grave. But here, we see that He is given power to cause death of all types. And the Holy Bible even lists the type of death’s a fourth of the earth will experience such as:
- To kill with sword
- To kill with hunger
- To kill with death
- To kill with the wild beasts of the earth
To Kill With Sword
Is obviously one of many ways Death will kill the fourth of the earth. He uses wars. He will also influence people to kill with weapons, such as fire arms. In the US alone since the Columbine School shootings, there has been an increase of mass public shootings too numerous to list here in America alone.
Now fire arm deaths are happening in a few other countries globally. And the global statistics are so low that it does not rate in the top 10 causes of death “globally.” Never-the-less, it is happening today just as this passage of Scripture is ministering.
To Kill With Hunger
This spirit is given power to kill with hunger. The causes of hunger is global inflation where people cannot afford to eat (poverty). Cost of living has increased to the point where farmers can’t afford to farm because of debt, bankruptcy and the loss of land, stops them from growing food because they can’t afford to farm.
Statistically speaking the UN reports that 10% of the world’s population are in hunger. And the UN also estimates 25,000 people die everyday globally because of malnutrition and starvation.
To Kill With Death
I know this passage of Scripture sounds like an oxymoron. But there is a vast way how this spirit will kill a fourth of the earth “with death”. Here, it is only describing very briefly with a few words what’s happening today. This spirit is the influencer of:
- Murder
- Abortion
- Suicide
- Persecution/Martyrdom
- Accidental Deaths
- Pestilence/cancer
- Drug overdose
Statistically speaking, The # 1 cause of death worldwide is heart disease. And even though there are a wide range of heart disease, symptoms and causes, (here for time sake), we will only generalize it all. The common cause of all heart diseases besides genetics, is stress, smoking, excessive drinking of alcohol and caffeine, and an unhealthy diet. And all of these can be stress related, stress started.
And Jesus Christ told us 2000 years ago pointing to the signs of the rapture of the church, that great distresses will happen in the earth; cosmic disturbances and people dropping dead suddenly because their hearts are failing, which is lined up to global statics today of what’s happening right now as we speak.
Luke 21:24-26 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Not only that, but Jesus Christ also warned another great detail about the “Days of Sorrow’s,” after we see and hear about wars and rumors of wars and nations rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms…then there shall be
Matthew 24:7 famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
To Kill With Wild Beasts
Now globally speaking, there is a very low percentage of people who die by wild beasts, whether they be killed by insects, reptiles, aquatic species or wild beasts of the earth. Sinceit has such a low percentile, this doesn’t even make the top 100 list. But people all over the world are dying by wild beasts nonetheless.
And this horsemen are the reason why there is so much death happening all around the world more frequently in all of our personal lives today than ever before. According to this passage of Scripture, Death will kill a fourth of the world’s population. If the world’s population is 8 Billion people today, then 2 billion will die by all manners of death.
Already, most of us can testify that we know someone that has passed away young and suddenly in the past week. This spirit is the influencer behind these sudden deaths. Death has a profound effect on the human psyche. This is why God is using this as He does of all the other horsemen, to bring about His judgments/correction upon all mankind.
He is Just, Holy and Righteous and His nature is to judge sin. And by doing so this should cause people to draw close to God, repent from sinning and get right with Him. Because that is our human nature He has created. When disaster strikes, When something bad suddenly happens, either to us personally or someone we know, we all tend to look to God for answers, for guidance. And Death helps us to put into prospective what’s important. It even helps us to question our own mortality and should cause us to wonder about eternity, God and salvation.
Death also puts into perspective that life is only a moment. We are literally here today and gone tomorrow. Anyone at any given second of every day, month and year can drop dead. No one is guaranteed the next minute.
This is all part of what God uses to draw people to Jesus Christ as it is written: John 6:44 No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
You may be asking aloud, “if God is using death to draw sinners to Christ, then why is it written, in 2 Peter 3:9 He’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should comes to repentance?”
The answer is, All our days are numbered. God gives all humanity time to repent. But many drag feet on salvation thinking we have time to make that eternal decision. Many squanders the time given, unknowing that death can come so suddenly when you least expect it. And that’s not God’s fault, that’s not God’s doing!
People make their own decisions every hour to ignore the truth, to laze out spiritually, to walk away or backslide from Christ. And when you die. Time has run out. There are no do overs. There is no more opportunity for repentance after death!
So the question remains for all humanity right now in life… Are you ready for eternity to come? Becuase it’s it’s Heaven or Hell! Are you ready to meet God face to face? Do you know Jesus Christ; are you close to Him; and are you right with Him? Is your conscience clear to stand before God in judgment? Is it really well with your soul? Is your name written in the Lambs Book of Life?
Now Biblically speaking, the # 1 cause of death globally is sin… first and foremost. And that fact goes all the way back to Genesis 3, whether you believe that or not. This is the very reason why all humanity is born with this adamic sin nature and separated from God naturally from birth.
For this reason, Jesus Christ the Son of God came down from Heaven into this world by the virgin birth; conceived by the Holy Spirit, to die on the cross for the remission of sins and reconcile man to God through His shed blood. Raised from the dead, ascended back into Heaven and sits at God’s rights hand to give us eternal life as it is written:
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So when you look at the full picture, Both physically and spiritually, pestilence is the #1 cause of death world wide. Sin is the cancer, the disease that has a 99.9% success rate. Jesus Christ is the only One who defeated Death through His resurrection. And those who are in Christ, though we die physically, we shall live with Christ eternally as it is also promised by Jesus Christ Himself, to all those who believe; are born-again and follows Him as Lord,
John 11:25-26 I Am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?
The effects of death should cause all of us to turn to the Holy Bible for the best source of salvation information and turn to Jesus Christ, the only One that can save you from hell fire, damnation and the pending judgments to come upon all the earth after this. Remember, this is the beginning of the judgments of God. There is more to come and it’s about to get worse!
Meanwhile, God is going to use every means possible to bring people to repentance and draw as many who so ever will’s to be saved to Jesus Christ, unto salvation. Because again He is in control of all these events that are happening. He’s just not in control of your personal choices or actions. And will use the means of compassion as well as the means of fear to draw as many that are willing to respond to His call to salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Synopsis of God’s Judgements
And this is the very reason why He uses these horsemen, to accomplish that resounding warning through action; that the Kingdom of God is truly at hand! He’s waiting for your response, either rejection or reception! Indecision is still a response against God, against salvation and rejecting your place in Heaven by default.
Now I’m sure there are a couple of lingering questions about these four horsemen. In short these four horsemen are nothing good. For God uses them to bring forth the first set of Judgments. The Holy Bible has revealed that He has reserved angels who had sinned against Him in chains of darkness, reserved unto judgment as it is written:
2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
Many have generally understood this passage of Scripture to only refer to God’s final judgment upon all demonic angels who have followed satan in rebelling against God (Revelation 12:3-4 & 9-10). Being stored away and chained until that day of Judgment. But that’s only half the story.
Look closely at that passage of Scripture… First off God casts angels (Plural) meaning some and did not specify an exact number into Hell. And is that not judgment? Jesus Christ describes Hell to be a place of fire and torment, not a place of darkness (Luke 16:19-31; Mark 9:43-48)
Heaven on the other hand, is a place of divine light and the source of that light is God Most High and Jesus Christ (Revelation 22:5). So, outside of Heaven is darkness where these demonic angels: the four horsemen are kept in chains; hidden in darkness, reserved unto Judgment.
Meaning, God has kept a certain amount of demonic angels on a leash, reserved to be used by God to bring forth His judgments upon the earth at His appointed time. And we see this fact where God has hidden a specific number of demonic angels in darkness (The bottomless pit), reserved to judge and torment mankind for 5 months according Revelation 9.
So, some are in Hell, Many are on earth as demonic spirits, spirits of distractions, entertainments, of depression, oppression, obsession and possession; obeying the will and doing the work of satan. While others are waiting to be used in their appointed time as it is written in the Holy Bible.
Secondly, the Holy Bible never taught that satan and all fallen angels are in Hell. In fact the Holy Bible teaches that satan roams to and from upon the earth. This reveals He is not omnipresent (Job 1-2).
So when you put all these Scriptures together, it gives us a bigger picture that God did in fact cast satan and a third of the angels out of Heaven unto the earth. Some He cast into Hell while others He reserved in His appointed time to bring judgment upon the earth and that is the full account according to the Holy Bible.
God uses compassion to bring some to Christ. And to others that will not respond to His loving kindness, He uses fear to draw people to repentance and unto His only begotten Son Jesus Christ; pulling as many as whosoever wills to be saved out of the fires of Hell (Jude 22-23).
And that’s the reason why in the Book of Revelation reveals the judgments of God and why He grants permission of events written therein to happen. It’s to draw people to His only begotten Son by every means possible to salvation. And This is the bottom line.
Many ask, why does God allow people to do evil? The quick answer is, He is not in control of people. He has given all humanity intelligence, a conscience and free will. And it is people who choose the way of their own sin nature which is ultimately the pathway to satan and His will.
That’s how people become evil, by rejecting God and following knowingly or unknowingly the world; the flesh and the devil, which is naturally against God in every way. And all our choices every day are ultimately choosing our final eternal destination, Heaven or Hell!
These horsemen are to bring chaos and confusion; financial distress and national disaster; pestilence; hopelessness and insecurity into the world. Because people all around the world put their trust in things that are fallible/temporal (and eternally pointless), instead of trusting Jesus Christ the Author and Finisher of our faith. And to ultimately set up the stage for the Antichrist to be the solution to all world conflicts and problems!
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
When will the world wake up and get right with God now through Jesus Christ and be saved from all these escalating events from now through the Great Tribulation Period! What will it take!
Acts 2:38-40 Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Hope For A Hopeless Generation 