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Opening of 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th Seals
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nd when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come
and see. 4 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. 5 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 had a pair of
balances in his hand. 6 And I 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 thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 7 And when he had
opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and
see. 8 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. (Rev 6:3-8)
For
all its wickedness and oppression, the rule of Rome had given the known world
some heretofore non-existent benefits perhaps the greatest of which was a
general peace throughout the empire (PAX ROMANO) where tribal wars had
prevailed before. It also provided a common means of commerce, trade, and
communication. But a heavy price was paid by the early church for the so-called
‘Peace of Rome’. Persecution and tribulation was also made possible by the long
arm of Rome throughout the Empire, and its dreadful hand fell heavily upon our
early martyrs.
You will recall that the White Horse seems to
represent the Roman Empire (and later, the Roman Church). It is a
clumsy counterfeit of that peace which Christ offers. I believe it even more
particularly represents the Roman Church than the temporal Roman Empire. The
Rider has no true weapons – only a bow; yet he goes “forth conquering, and
to conquer.” The Roman Church has been the catalyst for major wars since
its inception. It may wield the bow, but the arrows are provided by its
surrogates of nations. It has considered all of Europe to fall under its
dominion to include the Hapsburg Monarchy. If one would search the encylopedia
for the City of Rome, one will find that it has historically been known as the
City of Seven Hills. The cryptic reference by John the Revelator in Rev. 17:9
describes the false church (the Woman Riding the Beast) as sitting on “seven
mountains”. So I have considered the White Horse Rider to
introduce the coming fall of Jerusalem by Titus of the Roman legions (in 70AD),
as well as the spiritual Rome that dominates many lands, and minds, today. We
will now take up the following three seals of the seven.
“3 And when he had opened the second seal, I
heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 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.” If white is representative of purity and peace (regardless
the harshness thereof), red must certainly represent the wars that have been
fought over the struggles for religious domination of Rome, and other false
religions, over her presumed charges. As an example, consider the St. Bartholomew
Day massacre against the Protestant Huguenots of France in 1572, or the
attempted invasion of England by the “Invincible’ Armada of Spain repelled and
sorely defeated at the hands of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake of
the British Navy. The Red Horse Rider is a War-Mongerer. His spirit of war and
devastation was representative of that time contemporary to St. John, the
period immediately following, and, with few exceptions, until our very day. “Think not that I am come to send peace on
earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matt 10:34) Christ does not originate wars and mayhem, but when men stand on
righteousness and faith, the armies of the world will rise up in opposition.
The Church itself, though reformed with fire and Holy conviction during the
Great Reformation, has admitted division and error into its doors.
Unholy alliances have characterized the
relationship between Church and the secular power almost from the outset of the
Gospel being preached to all nations. It forces compromise and a lukewarm
gospel.
As John avers in the stated text, “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.”
Constantine the Great was elevated by the alliance between the church and the
secular power. He introduced many errors, while denouncing others. But the
embodiment of ecclesiastical power in the seat of imperial power led to a
prideful abuse of power in both spheres. Certainly, faith and truth should have
direct influence over government; but government should never have influence
over the Church.
“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 had a pair of balances in
his hand. 6 And I 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 thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” The wars and devastation that lay in the wake of
the Red Horse Rider is prelude to that which follows with the Rider on the
Black Horse – black being the stark contrast of white. Immorality and decadence
follows in the wake of war – and the Black Horseman brings with his advent a
condition of unequal justice and perhaps exorbitant taxation. It is the rude
oppression of the Dark Ages where men became vassals on their own lands, and
justice was denied to the poor, and what semblance of justice there was meted
out, it was in unbalanced measure. Cost of the merest goods of common existence
was inflated at the hands of hoarding church and aristocracy. By the way, this
influence of the Rider on the Black Horse was not time-sensitive. He still
prevails in many parts of the world today. The balances he has in his hands are
hypocritical. They are not true balances. Justice is denied thousands of
martyrs in our day owing to false religion claiming they have no right to life.
From the reign of Constantine until the establishment of the Papacy in 538, the
darkest errors of religion were introduced and were then perpetuated by a
prideful church whose papal head claimed to stand in the place of Christ on
earth.
Error is a feature of every church age. There are
always flies in the ointment of doctrine and teaching. Men do not like to be
subordinated to the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the early church began to adopt
Platonic philosophy in order to gain sophistication and the acceptance of the
world. Of course, the Gospel requires of us just the opposite. We are to
transform the world by the Gospel – not be transformed by the world.
“The oil and
wine (the grace bestowed by the Spirit of love and faith) were endangered of
being hurt by the greed and zeal for profit that had entered the church through
compromise with the secular state. There is much more to be gleaned
from the meanings presented herein of the balances, the wheat and the barley,
and the oil and the wine – not just in a historical sense, but in a
contemporary one as well. We can see some of the same abuses of the “Big Model”
Church as existed in the Roman Church during its early ascension. Please study
this text more diligently in order to get the full sense of it. The space
needed for a devotion does not allow such a deeper study.
“7 And
when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say,
Come and see. 8 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.” One pompous name for the Pope in Rome is
“Vicarius Filii Dei” a titled given by Constantine to St. Peter as the presumed
first Pope. Translated from the Latin, it means “Representative of the Son of
God on Earth.” There is no empirical evidence that I have seen that
can prove that St. Peter was ever associated with the Roman church as its Head.
But the title is claimed as an inheritance by all Popes of that Church. Can any
man stand in the place of Christ – even Peter?
In a sense, each of these Four Horsemen represents
some feature of all secular Imperial Power or that mal-appropriated
ecclesiastical power of the Roman Church and her lackeys. This Pale Horse
represents death. That is his name! And Hell follows in his wake. What can this
mean? When does Hell follow death without exception? When the decedent dies
outside the security of election in Christ! Ephesians 2 clearly tells us that
all are dead in trespasses and sin until ‘quickened’ by the Spirit. (made
alive). Those who die in their sins are inextricably committed to the domain of
Hell. The affected faith and compromised doctrine of the many modern churches
are pale compared to the true faith and doctrine of Christ. They are lukewarm,
and Christ will have none of them. They are frozen in time in the Laodicean
model of religious malaise.
Of course, the death, too, of many saints of God
have occurred as a result of the edicts of Rome. Some estimates claim 50
million have been martyred at the hands of Rome. So the Pale Horse,
like the other three, represents some feature of Rome – either governmental, or
ecclesiastical – and both physical and spiritual Death.
