These Horsemen of the Apocalypse are a clear herald that God is beginning the end-time Great Tribulation. Down the ages there have always been seasons of conquest (tyranny), war, famine and disease; but this will be unmistakeably far greater. A quarter of the world’s population will perish! Currently that would be 2,000 million deaths = ~40 x the total in WW2.
Men have always yearned to know what the future holds. Leaders, and indeed all people, want to be enabled to make wise or profitable decisions for their country, their family or themselves. Folk study everything from history to astrology to find their answers. But it is only in God’s Word that the reliable truth can be found.
Very simply only the Lord Almighty, the One who created this very special world and the whole universe is the only one who knows and has planned the future. He has graciously chosen to reveal some stepping stones so that men can walk under the care of the ‘Good Shepherd’. He has thus provided for us to be ready for the traumatic days that lie ahead.
Many preachers like to proclaim peace, joy, love and prosperity. But Jeremiah was commissioned to warn the people of his day that peace was not what God had planned. Though he was also tasked with ‘building’. God told him to prophesy that peace would only come after the just destruction of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon. (Jer 321-44) Revelation shows that God will bring great Tribulation upon the wicked world.
Of the 862 Biblical prophecies 662 have already been fulfilled, 89 partly fulfilled and 117 await the day of their fulfilment.
| Bible Prophecies | OT | NT | Total |
| Fulfilled | 555 | 107 | 662 |
| Partly Fulfilled | 61 | 28 | 89 |
| Await Fulfilment | 70 | 47 | 117 |
| Totals | 686 | 182 | 862 |
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Almighty God always keeps his promises and fulfills them.
Thankfully, both the past and the future remain in his hands.
So it would be wise if we sought to understand the days in which we live.
Let us be like the men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. 1 Ch 1232
In the book of Revelation chapters 6-20 often remain neglected. Men do not like to hear that Almighty God has warned us that wickedness will punished and come under his just judgement. This section begins when Jesus, the risen Christ, opens the 7 seals on the scroll that is the ‘Lambs Book of Life’, which contains all the names of the redeemed. The scroll must be opened to reveal the names. But before God’s eternal and righteous kingdom is formed, all evil must be destroyed. Men who see no reason why Jesus, the Son of God, had to be crucified to gain our forgiveness, will always challenge God’s judgement.
1. The White Horse
Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. Rev 61,2
The Moody Bible Commentary says, “This one is best understood as the conquering beast, the evil ruler of the tribulation period (Dan 926-27), who is a wicked parody of Jesus. He would establish world sovereignty by force.”
How will the rider, this leader, conquer and domineer?
Largely by deceit, threats and fear.
He may initially be elected, like Hitler, but if so, the democracy will very quickly become a dictatorship. How? He will deceive all his subjects.
When Jesus told his disciples about the 'last days', the first 7 words were: "Watch out that no one deceives you." Math 244. And he repeated this warning in Math 2411 and 24.
Daniel was also instructed to prophesy the same warning:
I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath ... when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. Dan 819, 23-25a
How will this ‘Master of Intrigue’ deceive us so easily? What will he do?
a) By signs and wonders.
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible. Math 2424
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, ... and blasphemous names on its heads. ... One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marvelled as they followed the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. Rev 131-4
Then I saw another beast ... It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast ... It performs great signs, ... and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth. Rev 1311-14
But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image. Rev 1920
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. 2 Thes 29,10
Signs and wonders are always popular and exciting, even intoxicating. It is so easy to assume that they are all good and must therefore be ‘of God’. But it is often forgotten that Satan also has power to do wonders, to heal and to greatly impress. Godly discernment can only be learned by carefully reading all the Scriptures in the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Revealer (Jn 1426 1613). Though vital, this will become rare in the last days. Let us take heed to the warnings that Jesus gave us.
b) By the Evolution Theory
In 1859, a British man called Charles Darwin published a book called 'On the Origin of Species'. Darwin’s theory claims that all species developed over millions of years from a single ‘chance’ amoebae by ‘natural selection’ is absurd. Even the smallest amoeba, the Mycoplasma, has ~ 600 billion atoms! Even if all these atoms got together by chance, they would still have to be arranged correctly to form the right molecules. And who would then give them life?
The fossil record does not have any of the proposed missing links. Furthermore any cross-breeding like a tiglon (Tiger and Lion) are invariably infertile. No one has ever observed a blue-tit mating with a coal-tit. And even if artificially ‘mated’, the eggs would not be fertile.
What about all the flora and fauna? They are not mentioned in the Evolution Theory. Although genetic modification and artificial cross-pollination can now produce a limited number of hybrid plants, you never find natural pollination by wind or bees producing a cross between a fir tree and an oak, or a cross between a crocus and a snowdrop.
Why has the Evolution Theory become so popular that it is now taught as truth in the UK school curriculum? How can intelligent men believe a theory that denies that Almighty God designed and created every one of the ~ 9 million creature species and the ~10 million flora and fauna species? God created not only all the variety of species but also a suitable environment for each of them to flourish. He then told each ‘kind’ to ‘be fruitful and multiply’. Gen 122,28
It is amazing to what lengths of speculation otherwise intelligent men will go to if they do not wish to acknowledge the power and ingenuity of Almighty God.
The consequence of believing this blasphemous lie has been disastrous. The God of Creation and our salvation has been side-lined and ignored.
Paul prophesied this in Romans
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ...
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity ... They exchanged the truth of God for a lie ...
God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion ...
Furthermore ... God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity ...
Those who do such things deserve death ... Ro 118-32
As we now see, denying God’s creation and believing a hideous lie has lead to Almighty God removing his protection. This resulted in man choosing rampant homosexuality, gross wickedness, and thus the eternal condemnation of God.
Not a wise choice, which all began with being deceived by men believing the evolution theory lie.
c) By Anthropogenic Global Warming
There is ample evidence that there has been global warming during the last 200 years and there has been a steady rise in the % of CO2. They happen to be coincidental. But there was a similar rise in temperature in the 13th/14th Century when the Vikings cultivated Greenland and vines were grown in Scotland. Following that rise there was a major cooling until mid 18th C when they had annual fairs with bonfires on the frozen Thames! What caused this rise and fall and subsequent rise? Not CO2 which remained fairly constant. The claim that it is all due to human activity causing ‘greenhouse gases’ is a major lie. There has been warming but it is mostly natural, as previously, and not ‘anthropogenic’ (man induced). Two major indications of this are:
1. Computer models have been proven to be wildly exaggerated. They were programmed using inaccurate assumptions as in the following graph.
2. Using the official data that is updated each month and is publicly available on the internet:
NASA Satellite Data:
https://www.nsstc.uah.edu/data/msu/v6.0/tlt/uahncdc_lt_6.0.txt
Met Office HadCRUT Data:
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcrut5/data/current/download.html
Plotting out just the last 8 years of this official unedited data (as below) shows that although the CO2 has continued to rise smoothly, the global temperature has not risen in the last 7 years, but FALLEN !!
COP 26, 27 and 28 did not plot out and publish such an embarrassing graph.
It would have destroyed too many of their cherished theories and biased lies that has deceived so many.
It is having a very profound effect upon the world, which cannot save itself from natural greed and thirst for power.
It is however true that many nations have grossly abused the God-given resources of fossil fuels, rare earths etc and have successfully polluted the planet. This needs correcting, but vested interests make this unlikely.
d) The Palestinians are Not an Ancient People
The Palestinian claim to be the ancient people who inhabited Palestine is false.
Can you name any Palestinian leader before Yassir Arafat?
Does Wikapedia give any? No! Why not? Because there weren't any!
Before 1964 (when Arafat founded the PLO) there were no distinct 'Palestinian' people; only palestinian Jews and palestinian Arabs.
In 1947 the UN voted to partition the British mandate which gave 30% of the land to the Jews and the remainder to the Arabs (Transjordan). Article 181 only mentions Jews and Arabs. There was no mention of Palestinians because they did not exist.
In 1964, the Egyptian born Yassir Arafat founded the PLO (the Palestine Liberation Organisation) to try to destroy the Jewish state of Israel.
In December 1995 Arafat magnified his lie when Israel gave him control of Bethlehem. He repeatedly said, “Jesus was a Palestinian, Jesus was a Palestinian!” The undiscerning world ‘bought’ his lie. They had forgotten that even the Roman Governor, Pilate, wrote on the Cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” !
As the saying goes, “Make a lie big enough and say it often enough and everyone will believe it.”
The Palestinian lie is an excellent example.
Since 1004 BC when David captured Jerusalem from the Canaanite Jebusites, it has only ever been the capital city of the Jews. In 135 AD Rome put down the Bar Kochba rebellion by the Jews and to perpetuate their victory with the maximum insult they renamed the land ‘Syria Palaestina’ (Roman for Philistine). Since then, Jerusalem has been (re)captured by a succession of Muslims, Crusaders, Moguls, etc and from 1517 to 1917 by Turks (the Ottoman Empire). Palestine only described an area of land, never a particular people and certainly never a nation.
World support for the ‘Palestinians’ is not based upon truth or justice. It is based upon a satanic lie initially propagated by Arafat. The world does not believe that the earth is the Lord’s (Ps 241). They do not think that Almighty God, who created it all, has any right to give a small area of real estate to a particular people (the Jews). World history since 300 AD shows that even ‘so-called’ Christian nations have persecuted and sought to annihilate the Jews and deny them living in the ‘Promised Land’ that God gave to Abraham and his descendants. Gen 177,8
See "Whose Land?" (Use back arrow to return)
e) The God of Love will Not Judge the World
Few sermons today speak about sin and our need of God’s mercy. Few declare that everyone without exception is born sinful; and especially that the wages of sin is death! Ro 623 Our eternal destiny is ignored. Many, if not most, Church leaders desire to be popular rather than truthful.
The prime purpose of Jesus being born a man on his earth was to fulfill the plan to be the crucified Passover Lamb of God. Only by being redeemed by a perfect sacrifice could our death penalty be assuaged. No other man could pay the decreed price, however earnest his endeavour. The Cross was no accident; it was planned and prophesied from the beginning. The only road into heaven for all eternity is for the Pilgrim to plead with God for mercy and believe that Christ’s sacrifice for us is sufficient to gain our forgiveness.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ... Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already.” Jn 316,18
Most church-goers and many others believe that Jesus was a real person, and even that he was the ‘Son of God’. They believe that he set a good example. That he said and did many good things. But the disastrous lie comes in not believing why he came; why he had to be crucified. Being afraid of rejection, much of the church only proclaims how much God loves us. They persist in omitting our need for mercy and thus also Christ’s provision for it.
Paul taught the Corinthians the truth, not the modern lie. He said, The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ... Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom. Today we might add that many try to be good and earn approval. But Paul preached Christ crucified ... the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Co 118-24
Believing in why Jesus had to come and be crucified is the only way to receive God’s forgiveness and not be condemned.
The deceptive lie is believing that the wages of sin is not death and that our sin is only an unfortunate and occasional occurrence, which we can mostly learn to overcome. The popular way is thinking that the Cross was just a sad, needless misfortune. What blasphemy!
2. The Red Horse
When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. Rev 63,4
History is one long catalogue of frustrated men not having what they want and therefore resorting to war to try and gain it (or trying to retain it). The last century saw WW1 in which 10 million died. Deluded men called it ‘the war to end all wars’. How wrong they were. Just 21 years later WW2 started which caused the death of over 50 million.
At the end the ‘Red Horse’ is called forth and takes away any inhibition for war there may have been. Men will go to war like never before. There will be no distinction between the military and the civilians. And ¼ of the world’s population will die in battle, or in the famine and plague that follow it. That is ~2,000 million will die. 40 x more than WW2 ! Satan will be so pleased. There is no time scale; we do not know whether it will be a few days or whether it will drawn out over years. In about 700 BC a single angel of the Lord slew 185,000 of the army of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria in one night. This king had made the foolish mistake of insulting the Lord God of Israel. See 2 Kg 19. For comparison, on the first day of the WW1 battle of the Somme 19,240 British lost their lives.
These four Horsemen come at the start of the 7 year Tribulation, so it will be clear when this time has come.
3. The Black Horse
When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” Rev 65,6
One of the modern statistics that should concern us is that in UK we now have to import 40% of our food. In the days following the Red Horse deaths, where will anyone get the ‘staple’ food they need? Olive oil and wine will not be affected. This is a strange detail. Barley bread is only made by the poor. 4 quarts of flour for a full day’s wage for a whole family would mean there was little or nothing left for anything else i.e. famine.
4. The Pale Horse
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. Rev 67,8
Following war and famine and the total breakdown of the NHS (and all the other medical luxuries that much of the modern world have become accustomed to), disease inevitably marches out to destroy many who are left. The ‘wild beasts’ kill and eat many too. But who / what these beasts are we are not told. In desperate days men can easily behave like beasts, or worse!
Note:
Only Christ has the power and authority to open each seal in turn.
Each horse is called forth by one of the four heavenly Living Creatures.
Who these horsemen are is not disclosed. But the rider of the white horse cannot be Christ for the simple reason that a Living Creature would never command Christ to come forth. Christ, the ‘Faithful and True’ rides a different white horse in Rev 1911
Some other scriptures concerning Deceit
David said, Blessed is the man ... and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Ps 322
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Jn 147
No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. Ps 1017
The prophets are prophesying lies in my name ...
worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. Jer 1414
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Co 69,10
See 'Five Lies and Five Truths' Use back arrow to return)