More On The Four

A study of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse reveals the wide variety of interpretations of The Four Horsemen of the Revelation  (Greek = apocalypse) and applications. A prime example is Albrecht Dürer's portrayal. 

Albrecht Dürer's Four Horsemen
1498

The British Museum points out that Albrecht Dürer's 1498 publication of the text of the Book of Revelation secured for him an income for the rest of his life. 

Skilled block cutters cut around his drawn lines to portray pestilence, war, famine and death driving citizens and king alike into the jaws of hell. 

The illustrated Martin Luther Bible has similar images of the Four Horsemen. Cunningham and Grell studied their meaning for Luther (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Religion, War, Famine and Death in Reformation Europe). For Luther and for many supporting the reformation, they write, the white horse and its rider point to the Second Coming of Christ and the Day of Judgment when the godly will be saved and the ungodly punished. The arrows represent God's wrath and punishment and the bow is a symbol of God's covenant with His elected people. This interpretation was also facilitated by Dürer's woodcut. Dürer was an early follower of Luther. And he was not unique among the early evangelicals who saw Luther as an apocalyptic prophet who preached the Gospel and announced the commencement of the final period of world history. 

Christopher Cameron Smith, an aspiring scholar of Islamic studies,  in a blog about Martin Luther on the Turks (and Islam), based upon a paper written for a course on Luther and the Reformation, points out that many Protestants fled to Ottoman lands when their "Christian" rulers oppressed them. This, he says, is precisely why you cannot understand the Reformation without seeing what role 16th century Ottoman expansion played in European thought.  

Regardless of where you come down in your interpretation of the Four Horsemen, it is clear that we are in the final period of world history. 

The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse

The drama continues. The Lamb who is worthy opens the seven seals and each time he does a voice like thunder cracks out the word, "Come!"—a command in Greek that means not only come, but also "Go!" And one by one out come four horses, white, bright red, black and pale (Rev. 6:1-8).

Four Horses of the Apocalypse

As the  Lamb opens the first seal a white horse springs forth, with a rider who has a war bow. A crown is given to him. He comes conquering and to conquer. 

At the opening of the second seal a red horse appears, ridden by one with a great sword. He removes peace from the earth so that people slay one another.

With the opening of the third seal a black horse springs forth, ridden by one with a pair of scales in his hand. And from the midst of the four living creatures a voice cries, "A quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!" 

Finally, with the opening of the fourth seal, a pale horse whose rider's name was Death, followed by Hades, leaps forth. They move with authority over a quarter of the earth to kill, bringing famine and pestilence and wild beasts. 

What does all this foretell? Many commentators believe that the white horse and its rider point to the Parthian empire. The key lies in the conqueror's bow. This was the favorite weapon of the mounted Parthian warriors. To them white was a sacred color.  They were the arch enemies of Rome, threatening the empire's eastern borders for decades. By opening this seal, Christ,  the Lord of all lords (1 Tim.6:15; Rev 17:14; 19:16), foretells a continual war between Rome and Parthia. And points to the endless wars of today. 

Various writers have suggested that the rider of the white horse is Christ Himself (Rev 19:11-16), and claim that the symbol points to the victorious progress of the gospel (Mark 13:9-13) in the midst of conflict. The problem with that interpretation is that it is Christ Himself who opens the seals and consequently can hardly be the first rider. 

The second seal and its red horse further symbolizes war and bloodshed. The third seal with its horseman on a black horse points to what happens when food is destroyed in war and economies are disrupted. Ordinarily the denarius, a day-laborer's common wage (Matt 20:1-16), could purchase 8 to 16 times more grain than the quarts of wheat or barley mentioned. In other words the black horse and its rider foretell inflation and famine. 

The fourth horse, pale as the color of death itself, is appropriately named Death, with Hades, the place of the dead, close behind. A fourth of the earth is killed by war, famine and pestilence, followed by ravishing wild beasts. 

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse continue to ride in our day. Nation rises against nation with the resulting famine, suffering and death. And so it will be until the King of kings returns to crush all rebel nations under His heel:

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." 

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill." 

I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." 

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. - Psa 2:1-12 ESV

Even so, come Lord Jesus. Come quickly.