The Pale Horse

(Rev. 6:7-8) " When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come and see.So I looked, and behold a pale horse, and the name of him who sat on it was Death and Hades followed with him, and power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

Disease travels in tandem with fear. While the first can lead to the death of thousands, the second can unravel the socialfabric, disrupting the precarious balance of relationships essential for the stability of nations.

Now, as you can see, this last seal comes about because of the first three seals, and these seals represent powerful forces that will devastate human life on earth.

These four horsemen will bring such great devastation to this planet, that if Jesus Christ did not put a stop to it, no flesh would remain alive.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says the color of this 4th horse (pale) denotes yellowish green, the light green of a plant, or the paleness of a sick person. This horse is the color of death.

Now these seals have a cumulative effect, false religion will cause instability within relationships which leads to war, famines follow war, and when malnourishment occurs and social systems break down, human beings are more prone to disease. These seals depict the ferocity of problems unleashed on the world in the lead-up to "The Day of the Lord."

Also notice that Jesus Christ said there would be other calamities as well. Christ also listed in the same context in (Luke 21:25) “And there will be signs in the sun in the moon, and in the stars, and on earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

The term "the sea and the waves roaring" means great rolling masses of waves. This past year, you glimpsed this prophecy when a massive tidal wave hit in the Far West and thousands of people died. These type of calamities make populations that much riper for the spread of disease epidemics.

By the time of the 4th seal when this "pale horse" completes his ride, 1/4 of the inhabitants of this earth will experience incredible devastation and death. Again, to understand just how bad it is going to be, we need but to look back at history.

In the 14th century "Black Death" came to Europe. It was called the Bubonic Plague in which 1/3 to 1/2 of Europe's population died, somewhere around 20 million people.

This plague was so lethal that people were known to have gone to bed well, and die before the morning. This disease was of two types:

    1. The first was internal, causing swelling and internal bleeding.
    2. The 2nd concentrated in the lungs and spread by coughing airborne germs.

Whole towns were depopulated, the social structure completely broke down. Parents abandoned children, husbands and wives left each other to die, and in many cases there wasn't anyone around to bury the dead. One writer tells of observing 5,000 bodies lying dead in an open field.

One must understand that during this time, the Bible was the primary means to measure natural calamity. So the only way to understand what was happening was to believe the world was coming to an end.

The Great Plague of London, in 1664-65 killed more than 70,000 in a population of around 460,000. An outbreak in Canton and Hong Kong in 1894 left 80 to 100,000 dead and within 20 years this disease spread from southern China throughout the whole world killing more than 10 million people.

The Bubonic Plague came to America from Asia in 1899 and even today cases of this disease are still being reported. Now we know that this disease originates in rodents and is usually transmitted by flees, and also animal bites can transmit this disease.

Now what did the last part of (Rev. 6:8) say: "And by the beasts of the earth." Also notice (Lev. 26: 21-22) “Then if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me. I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number."

(Deut. 32:24) "They shall be wasted with hunger, devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction, I will also send against them the teeth of beasts, with the poison of serpents of the dust."

Our disobedience to the Great God, is the cause of all our problems, but our carnal mind refuses to accept the cause and effect. Sin does not enter the picture of our problems.

Also, when we check back in the history of war, (violation of God's Law, "Thou shall do no murder") plagues have been used as an offensive weapon against the population. The Mongols would catapult plagued infested dead bodies over walls of besiged cities and thousands would die as the disease spread throughout the city. During World War II, Japan dropped plagued infested flees on China.

After the Gulf War in 1991, weapons inspectors confirmed that Iraq had developed biological weapons. The weapons have disappeared and no one know their whereabouts.

In June 2001, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, hosted a senior level war game, examining the security challenges of a biological attack on our soil. Oklahoma City was to have the appearence of a case of small pox rapidly spread ing throughout the country. What were the results of those tests?

  1. A biological weapons attack could threaten our vital national security interest.
  2. Massive civilian casualties
  3. Breakdown in essential institutions
  4. Violation of democratic processes
  5. Civil disorder
  6. Loss of confidence in our government

Within days a million people would be dead and two to three times that many people would be infested.

Now beyond the human-engineered biological warfare, another type of pestilence is lurking. This disease is waiting quietly in the background and could erupt at any time. Just 80 years ago a sudden mutation in the virus that causes influenza, in just only 18 months, killed 25-40 million people world wide.

One expert by the name of W. Beveride says there is no known reason why there shouldn't be another outbreak similar to the one that occurred in 1918.

We all know that the flu always has the capability of becoming global, and since the world population has quadrupled, and more than a million people cross international boundaries on jets eachday, if this flu were to make a come back hundreds of millions of people would die. It takes around 8 months or more for medical science to create a vaccine once a new strain appears, but by the time this happens, millions could die.

(Deut. 28:22) "The Lord will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever, with the sword, with scorching and with mildew, they shall pursue you until you perish." Also read (Amos 4: 7-10 and Lev. 26:16)

Now here are just a few of the different types of fevers that exist today:

  1. Ebola fever, 90% die in an agonizing death
  2. Marburg - a rare severe type to fever, no one knows the type of animal that carries this virus.
  3. Crimean Congo fever - primarily infects animals but will from time to time infect humans, most likely a tick as the carrier.
  4. Rift Valley fever - also primarily infects animals, but occasionally infects humans.
  5. Dengue Fever - is a mosquito-borne infection, before 1970 only nine countries had experienced epidemics, but since 1995 2/5's of the world's population are now at risk-- that would be around 2.5 billion people.

Old diseases are now making a come back. Diseases like Tuberculosis kills 2 million people each year, and this disease can be come a gobal epedemic. Malaria, Bubonic plague, Cholera, Leprosy, Typhus, Polio, Diphtheria, E. Coli, Mad Cow disease, West Nile virus, Yellow fever, Monkey Pox (same as small pox), Hiv/ Aids, Hantavirus (carried by rodents) Avian Influenza. Hepatitis B is a major disease and a serious global public health
problem. Hepatitis C is a viral infection of the liver found all around the world, Lassa Fever ( this fever can cause shock, fluid in the lung cavity, hemorrhaging and seizures transmitted by rodents) Meningitis, STD's, Schistosomiasis, River Blindness (found in Africa, transmitted by the black fly) Chagas Disease,and Sleeping Sickness.

Why is all this devastation coming upon the this earth and especially to the modern-day House of Israel? Read Deuteronomy 28: 58-62, America YOU HAD BETTER WAKE UP AND REPENT OF YOUR SINS BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

War, famine and disease are the result of man's broken relationship with their Creator. God gave us instructions on how to avoid the problems that will devastate this world with the opening of these seals, if we would only listen.

(Lev. 26:1) "You shall not make idols for yourselves neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves.Any form of worship other than that given by God is a false idol having no value or validity. False religion and deception breaksthe bond between God and His Creation. When this bond is broken, human relationships suffer, leading to conflict and war.

(Verse 6) "I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down and none will make you afraid, I will rid the land of evil beasts." This peace, in contrast to the 2nd horseman of war, is a gift from God. When man obeys God from the heart and puts His Laws and ways first. (Verse 3-4) "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit."

Here, God promises the opposite of the 3rd horse of famine. He promises plenty of food from abundant harvests.

Just what is the antidote to the pale horse, the 4th rider? Read (Ex. 15:26, Deut. 7:12-15 and Deut 28: 15, 22, 27-28).

Whether we like it or not, the human race is bound to its Creator in a relationship that will reach a conclusion. God will accomplish His purpose of bringing many sons and daughters to glory. Mankind will come face to face with God and admit that He is the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD!

In John's vision there is a 5th horse that will ride (Rev. 19:
11-16), this Rider will bring and everlasting Kingdom of Truth, Peace, Justice and Health.

For He is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God!

 
The Church of God, New World Ministries P.O. Box 5536 Sevierville, TN 37864