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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 51

YEHOVAH God. These words could not apply to the last days of our era because FOR THERE
WILL THEN BE NO “PEACE” TO BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THE EARTH!

It is a remarkable fact that the gospel was not to bring peace to the parts of the earth to which
it was to go but, on the contrary, conflict. For the past 2,000 years the gospel has caused strife wher-
ever it has gone. It has aroused antagonism, hatred and discord everywhere. The white horse rider
with his bow has been closely followed -- even to the ends of the earth -- by the red horse with the
“great sword.”

Yeshua made it known that instead of finding ready acceptance the gospel message was to
encounter the most determined and violent resistance from all the powers of earth and the spirit
world; that it was to be war from start to finish. He told his followers that they must be prepared to
endure persecution like good soldiers; that they must take to themselves all the armor of
YEHOVAH God; that they would need a sword more than a cloak; that there was to be “no dis-
charge in that war,” since they must fight to the very end the good fight of faith. That the spiritual
warfare he foretold would last for twenty centuries was not -- and could not -- have been for a mo-
ment supposed by the first disciples. But we, from our place in time, can see, in the light of these vi-
sions of the Book of Revelation, that it was to be so.

While this is so, we should keep in mind that while the influences represented by the last
three horses of Revelation are in their very nature evil and hostile to the gospel, they nevertheless
are appointed to further YEHOVAH’s purposes in the spreading of the gospel. For example, the op-
position that Satan raised up everywhere against the apostle Paul -- which caused Paul to be re-
moved from the field of labor and imprisoned in Rome -- had just the opposite effect from that
which Satan intended. Paul, guided by the spirit of YEHOVAH, was able to write from his prison
and say, “I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have
fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Phil. 1:12). And so it will be with all these bit-
terly hostile influences. While recognizing their evil character and intent, we may nevertheless
view them as agencies which YEHOVAH God is using for the accomplishment of His great plan
and purpose for this age.

The Black Horse

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.”
And I looked, and behold, a BLACK HORSE, and he who sat on it had a PAIR OF
SCALES in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say-
ing, “A quart of WHEAT for a denarius, and three quarts of BARLEY for a denarius;
and do not harm the OIL and the WINE” (Revelation 6:5-6).

Most commentaries about these verses clearly show that the authors are groping blindly af-
ter the meaning of the symbols. It is commonly assumed that this vision represents famine; and the
prices quoted for the wheat and barley are supposed to support this theory -- for it is said that these
are “famine prices.” However, this is not a satisfactory explanation. There is nothing in the Bible to
indicate that a man, going forth with a pair of scales and crying the sale of wheat and barley at any
prices, is a symbol of famine. Neither has any proof been given that the prices quoted in these verses
are “famine prices.” Nor is it easy to see what the command not to hurt the oil and the wine has to do

The Berean Voice September-October 2002