bible study aid - the horsemen of revelation

7/30/2019 Bible Study Aid - The Horsemen of Revelation

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A Bible study aid

presented by BeyondToday.tv


2/182 A Bible study aid presented by Beyond Todaytelevision

BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The First Horseman

The four horsemen of the Apocalypse

this latter term being the Greek name

for the book of Revelationhaveintrigued Bible readers for centuries.

What do they represent? The implica-

tions for mankind are staggering. In this

first article of a series, we introduce the

overall prophecy and look in detail at the

first horseman.

b y D a r r i s M c N e e l y

ew sights are as stirring as a scene of horsemen gallop-ing across a landscape. Moviemakers use such scenes toadd drama, mystery and power to their stories.

In Revelation 6, Christ uses four horsemen to represent thefirst four of seven seals He opens from the scroll in His hand.These images have intrigued generations of Bible scholars andstudents. Thundering across the prophetic landscape, thesedramatic images cast a pall of terror on the world.

What is their meaning for our troubled and uncertain world?

Do these ominous riders foretell a coming wave of calamityfor the earths inhabitants? Lets look and see.

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Mankinds destiny hanging in thebalance

To understand the seals in Revelation 6,we first need to examine chapter 5. John isexperiencing a vision of the throne of Godwhen he sees in the right hand of Him whosat on the throne a scroll written inside andon the back, sealed with seven seals (Reve-

lation 5:1).No one in heaven or earth is able or wor-thy to open the scroll and reveal its contents.John bemoans the absence of anyone capa-ble of opening the scrolls. But a voice fromone of the elders around the throne says: Donot weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe ofJudah, the Root of David, has prevailed to

openthe scrolland toloose its seven seals(verse 5).

What John saw nextwas the sight of the glori-fied Jesus Christ in the com-manding position to receiveand dispense the full power ofGod. And I looked, andbehold, in the midst of the throne

. . . stood a Lamb as though it had been slain

. . . Then He came and took the scroll out ofthe right hand of Him who sat on the throne(verses 6-7).

What follows from this awesome sceneof angelic praise is the stirring anthem toChrists role in the plan of God. The four liv-ing creatures and 24 elders sing a new song.You are worthy to take the scroll, and toopen its seals, they proclaim in unison.

To this scene is now added the voice ofmany angels, perhaps numbering into thehundreds of millions, all loudly proclaiming,Worthy is the Lamb who was slain toreceive power and riches and wisdom, and

strength and honor and glory and blessing!(verses 11-12).

With a thundering crescendo the nextstanza arrives from every creature which isin heaven and on the earth and under the earthand such as are in the sea, and all that are inthem . . . saying: Blessing and honor andglory and power be to Him who sits on thethrone, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!

Such is the scene that stands as a preludeto the opening of the seals. The fate of man-kind rests in Gods hands,and His patienceis at an end.Christ alone is pronounced wor-thy to open the seals that announce Godsjudgments on the nations. The destiny ofhumanity is not a matter of chance or whim,but has been spelled out in the seals that Heopens.

Setting for the horsemens ride

What is the time setting of these prophe-

cies? Scholars offer divergent opin-ions, but the book of Revela-tion itself reveals the timesetting as the propheticLords day (Revelation1:10), elsewhere called

the Day of the Lord. Noticehow the prophet Joel described this

period: The sun shall be turned into dark-

ness, and the moon into blood, before thecoming of the great and awesome day of theLORD (Joel 2:31).

The Day of the Lord begins with Godsintervention in world affairs to spare humanlife during a period of unparalleled globalconflict and catastrophe. Mankind has suf-fered for centuries from the combined impactof war, famine and disease, but no previousperiod of turmoil will compare to this age-

ending storm described in Revelation.When the seals open before John, he sees

the first four uniquely pictured. Four omi-nous horsemen arise in an eerie sequence. Tobetter understand what these horsemen rep-resent, lets look at another key prophecyJesus Christ gave during His ministry.

The gathering storm

Jesus disciples were visiting Jerusalemwith Him. After admiring the temples build-ings, they crossed the Kidron Valley,climbed the Mount of Olives and paused toask Christ for signs of His coming and theend of the age (Matthew 24:1-3).

Jesus gave four signs that correspond withthe first four seals of Revelation 6: Takeheed that no man deceive you. For manyshall come in my name,saying, I am Christ;and shall deceive many.And ye shall hear ofwars and rumours of wars: see that ye be nottroubled: for all these things must come topass, but the end is not yet. For nation shallrise against nation, and kingdom againstkingdom:and there shall befamines, andpestilences,and earthquakes, in diverseplaces. All these are the beginning of sor-rows (Matthew 24:4-8, King James Ver-sion, emphasis added throughout).

Here Jesus reveals an overview of trendsand conditions from the first century untilthe end of the age. Take note of the four sig-nificant developments He foretold: Religiousdeception, war, famine and disease.

As this and later articles in this series willshow, humanity has long suffered from the

effects of these four signs. But nothing inhistory will compare to the catastrophesunleashed at the opening of the seals by theLamb. The unprecedented devastationbrought by the opening of the four seals willset the stage for the return of Christ as Kingof Kings.

Lets now look more closely at whatJohn saw.

The first seal: Conqueror on a whitehorse

As the first seal opens, John writes the fol-lowing: Now I saw when the Lamb openedone of the seals; and I heard one of the fourliving creatures saying with a voice likethunder, Come and see. And I looked, andbehold, a white horse. He who sat on it had abow; and a crown was given to him, and he

went out conquering and to conquer (Reve-lation 6:1-2).

White is a symbol of purity and peace.Here is a rider who appearsto come in thename of and bearing a message of peace. Buthe is a conqueror, one who imposes hisver-sion of peace on the world.

Possibly this rider will even bring abouta pseudo peace, a condition described bythe apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:3: Forwhen they say, Peace and safety! then sud-den destruction comes upon them . . . Andthey shall not escape.

Some confuse this rider with Jesus Christ,whom Revelation 19 shows riding a white

The Horsemen of Revelation 3

Here is a rider who appears to come in the name of and bear-

ing a message of peace. But he is a conqueror, one who imposes

hisversion of peace on the world.

2013 United Church of God, an International Association www.ucg.org



horse at His second coming. But a carefulexamination reveals important distinctions.Christ is wearing many crowns at Hisreturn, not just a single crown as worn bythis first horseman. And instead of wieldinga bow, Christ is brandishing a sword withwhich He strikes the nations.

To be consistent with Christs statementsin Matthew 24, we must conclude that this

rider represents not Jesus, but insteadfalseteacherswho appropriate His name whilecorrupting His plain teaching and leadingmany into destructive heresy.

Remember His warning: Take heed thatno one deceives you. For many will come inMy name . . . and will deceive many (Mat-thew 24:4-5).

A different gospel takes root

It didnt take long after Christs death fora different gospel (Galatians 1:6) toinvade the Church, causing division andconfusion. The apostles were forced to dealwith this problem, as evidenced by theirwritings to the Church.

Paul warned the elders of the congrega-

tion at Ephesus to beware of false teachers:Therefore take heed to yourselves and toall the flock, among which the Holy Spirithas made you overseers, to shepherd thechurch of God which He purchased with His

own blood. For I know this, that after mydeparture savage wolves will come inamong you,not sparing the flock. Alsofromamong yourselves men will rise up,speak-ing perverse things, to draw away the disci-ples after themselves (Acts 20:28-30).

As the apostle Peter neared the end ofhis life, God compelled him to give a sternwarning about the apostasy that he saw

looming on the horizon.The second chapter of his second epistle

is a powerful rebuke of those who wouldbring false teaching into the Church: Butthere were also false prophets among thepeople, even as there will be false teachersamong you,who will secretly bring indestructive heresies, even denying the Lordwho bought them, and bring on themselvesswift destruction (2 Peter 2:1).

He went on to say, Many will followtheir destructive ways,because of whom theway of truth will be blasphemed (verse 2).Peter calls the Churchs doctrine the wayof truth. It is like a trail of truth alongwhich the faithful have always walked.Christ called it a narrow and difficult way

that few find (Matthew 7:13-14).The Church corrupted by deception

Near the end of the first century theapostle John, last of the original 12 apostles,

saw a rapid escalation in the heresy andpersecution that was plaguing the Church.During the reign of Roman Emperor Domi-tian a virulent strain of antagonism wasunleashed on Christians. For a time, thegovernment even exiled the aged apostle tothe Aegean island of Patmos. It was therethat he received the book of Revelation invision.

The three epistles bearing his namereveal the mounting tension in the churchesand Johns desire to warn the members ofthe devastating impact of false teaching. Hewrote of their individual and collectiveresponsibility to examine those teacherswho presented themselves as spiritualguides and experts.

He knew it was easy to claim divineauthority and thereby deceive people intofollowing ideas that were spirituallydestructive. Beloved, do not believe everyspirit, but test the spirits, whether they are ofGod;because many false prophets havegone out into the world (1 John 4:1).

We see the apostles warning of the cor-ruption of the true faith brought by JesusChrist. Jude summed it up perfectly whenhe wrote of the need to contend earnestlyfor the faith which was once for all deliv-ered to the saints (Jude 3).

Within decades, the truth of God wasgravely corrupted by false teachers. Theresult was teachings that no longer resem-bled the gospel brought by Christ. In Gala-

tians 1:6, Paul had to reprimand the Gala-tians for turning away . . . to a differentgospel.From the teachings of these cor-rupters evolved a church bearing Jesusname, but vastly different in doctrines and

What Did the Early Church Believe and Practice?

The book of Acts records eyewitness accounts of the early Church from Christs res-urrection until about A.D. 60. Chapter 2 records the beginning of the Church.This special event began when the place in which the apostles and other disciples

were gathered suddenly was filled with the sound of a mighty wind and tongues, as

of fire, that appeared to alight on them. They went out and almost immediatelybegan to speak to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem, for these events occurred on thebiblical Feast of Pentecost. Miraculously, the apostles preaching was comprehensibleto all people from many lands so that all understood their words in their own lan-guage.

Often overlooked in this account is the significance of these events occurring on theDay of Pentecost(Acts 2:1). This was one of the festivals God commanded for His peo-ple many centuries before (Leviticus 23). In revealing these festivals, God exclaimed,. . . These are My feasts . . . the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations . . . (verses 2, 4).Then God proclaimed them to be a statute forever (verses 14, 21, 31, 41).

The Gospels show Jesus keeping the same festivals (Matthew 26:17-19; John7:10-14, 37-38). Both the book of Acts and Pauls letters show the apostles observingthese festivals long after Christs crucifixion (Acts 2:1-4; 18:21; 20:6, 16; 27:9). This isthe example they set for us.

Today, however, most churches teach that these festivals were somehow annulledby Christs death. Yet the unmistakable record of the Bible is that the early Churchcontinued to observe them long after His deathbut with a greater grasp of their

spiritual significance.Speaking of one of these God-given feasts, the apostle Paul urged the Church con-

gregation in Corintha mixed group of gentile and Jewish believersto keep thefeast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the

unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:8).Paul was obviously referring to keeping the biblical Feast of Unleavened Bread (seeLeviticus 23:6; Deuteronomy 16:16). Paul similarly explained the Christian significanceof the biblical Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7; Leviticus 23:5) and gave instructions onhow to properly observe this ceremony in the Church (1 Corinthians 11:23-28).

Such passages prompt an obvious question: Since Jesus, the apostles and the earlyChurch kept these days, why dont churches teach and observe them today? After all,Paul directly tied the feasts to Jesus, His purpose and His sacrifice for mankind(1 Corinthians 5:7).

The Gospels and Acts are equally clear that Christ, the disciples and the earlyChurch kept the weekly Sabbath on the seventh day of the week as their day ofrest and worship (Mark 6:2; Luke 4:16, 31-32; 13:10; Acts 13:14-44; 18:4). It wasJesus custom to go to the synagogue on Sabbath days to worship (Luke 4:16).Contrary to the teaching of those who say that Paul abandoned the Sabbath, it

was his custom, too, to go to the synagogue every Sabbath (Acts 17:1-3), usingthis God-ordained assembly to teach others about Jesus as Savior and Messiah.

Of course, most people and churches ignore the biblical seventh-day Sabbath.

BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The First Horseman

This rider represents not Jesus, but instead false teachers

who appropriate His name while corrupting His plain teach-

ing and leading many into destructive heresy.


5/18The Horsemen of Revelation 5

practices from the Church we see in theNew Testament. In fact, two vastly differentChristian faiths were now locked in astrugglethe true followers of Jesus teach-ings and the tarnished followers of a spiritu-ally corrupt, counterfeitChristianity!

Over the centuries, persecution from theRoman authorities took its toll. This coun-terfeit church further compromised the faith

under threat of death from the state.Roman Emperor Constantine combined

the power of the state with the ecclesiasticalstructure and authority of the false church.This created a union of church and statewith the ability to create order by squelch-ing dissent. Thus, Constantine and succeed-ing Roman emperors allied themselves witha deceptive religious system represented bythe symbolic white horse of peace. Theirmission was to conquer, in the name ofChrist, all those who opposed them.

A final great deception to come

Christs prophecy of false teachers com-ing in His name, claiming He is the Christbut deceiving many, indeed came to pass.Church history is largely a story of teach-ings and practices of the counterfeitChristi-anity, with its system of beliefs and prac-tices fundamentally different from what theearly New Testament Church believed andtaught. The story of those who held to or attimes recaptured the essence of true Christi-anity is not easy to follow through history.

Today those who strive to practice theteachings that Christ put into His Churchare few in comparison to the thousands ofchurches that call themselves Christian butare in fact descendants of the counterfeit

movement begun in the first century. Christsaid that wide is the gate and broad is theway that leads to destruction, and there aremany who go in by it . . . Narrow is the gateand difficult is the way which leads to life,and there are few who find it (Matthew7:13-14).

Yet even for these few, there is dangerfrom a comingdeceptionSatans end-time

effort to defeat and enslave humankind.Christs Olivet prophecy progresses, in

concert with the book of Revelation, towardthe final events before His return. He said,For false christs and false prophets willrise and show great signs and wonders todeceive, if possible, even the elect (Mat-thew 24:24). Even the elect, the people ofGod who keep the commandments of Godand have the testimony of Jesus Christ(Revelation 12:17), will be susceptibleto this great deception.

The apostle Paul spoke of this time ofdeception in 2 Thessalonians 2. This proph-ecy of a man of sin to arise before Christsreturn stands out within Pauls writings.

This end-time deception is led by a figurewho opposes and exalts himself above allthat is called God or that is worshiped andwho will even sit in the temple of God,showing himself that he is God. In Paulsday, this opposition to the law and doctrineof God was already at work. But before thecoming of Christ it will expand accordingto the working of Satan, with all power,

signs, and lying wonders (verses 3-9).This son of perdition matches thedescription of the figure described in Reve-lation 13 as a beast, one of two beasts inthis section, this one with two horns like a

lamb and speaking like a dragon (verse 11).This person acts in tandem with the first

beast (verse 1), actually causing people toworship the first beast with great adulation(verse 12). He performs great signs, so thathe even makes fire come down from heavenon the earth in the sight of men. And hedeceives those who dwell on the earth bythose signs which he was granted to do in

the sight of the beast, telling those whodwell on the earth to make an image to thebeast who was wounded by the sword andlived (verses 13-14).

What is this talking about? Here we findthe description of Satans final attempt toengineer a system based on his lying wordsof deceit and confusion. That it involvesfalse religion is obvious from all the mark-ers we have seen in the New TestamentScriptures.

A man claiming to be God, in the templeof God, performs signs with the intent ofpersuading men to worship a system thatappears to be doing good for the world. Thisis the final resurgence of a system God callsMYSTERY, BABYLONTHEGREAT, THEMOTHEROFHARLOTSANDOFTHEABOMINA-

TIONSOFTHEEARTH (Revelation 17:5).His allure will likely lie in bringing about

a peaceful solution to a world crisis whereno one else has succeeded. The world willwonder in amazement at the ability of thissystem to impose a peace that will seem-ingly bring security in which the world can

prosper economically. It will be a globalsystem unlike any previous system, and itwill seem to work.

But why? Shouldnt we observe a weekly day of rest and worship as God com-mands (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15), and shouldnt it be the same daythat Jesus and His apostles kept?

A closer examination of the Scriptures reveals many other differences between theteachings and practices of Jesus and His apostles and what is commonly taught. Forexample, the belief that obedience to Gods law is unnecessary is directly contrary to

Jesus own words (Matthew 4:4; 5:17-19) and the teachings and examples of Hisapostles (Acts 24:14; 25:8; Romans 7:12, 22; 1 Corinthians 7:19; 2 Timothy 3:15-17).

Jesus and the apostles never taught that the righteous ascend to heaven atdeath (John 3:13; Acts 2:29, 34), and they understood that man does not pos-sess an immortal soul that would spend eternity in either heaven or hell (Ezekiel18:4, 20; Matthew 10:28). Rather, they followed earlier Scripture passages in

referring to death as being like an unconscious sleep in which the dead await afuture resurrection (compare Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; Daniel 12:2-3; John 11:11-14;

1 Corinthians 11:30; 15:6, 51; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).Nowhere in the Bible do we find any mention of, or hint of approval for,

todays popular religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Though theGreek word paschais once incorrectly translated Easter (Acts 12:4, KJV)and that only in one Bible translationthis is a flagrant mistranslation. Paschaalways means Passover, never Easter!

Instead of approving such celebrations rooted in paganism, God condemns

them even when they are used in attempts to worship Him (compare Deuteron-omy 12:29-32; 1 Corinthians 10:19-21).

These are some of the major differences between the Christianity of Jesus andthe apostles and the Christianity commonly practiced today. But dont simplytake our word for it. We encourage you to follow the example of the Bereans(Acts 17:11) and look into your Bible to see whether todays popular beliefs andpractices agree with what Jesus and His apostles practiced and taught.

(Adapted from the booklet The Church Jesus Built. Down-load or request your free copy at www.ucg.org/booklets orfrom any of our offices. To learn more about these subjects,be sure to request our free booklets Gods Holy Day Plan: ThePromise of Hope for All Mankind, Holidays or Holy Days:Does It Really Matter Which Days We Keep?, Sunset to Sun-set: Gods Sabbath Rest, Heaven and Hell: What Does the

Bible Really Teach?andWhat Happens After Death? )

A closer examination of the Scripturesreveals many other differences betweenthe teachings and practices of Jesus andHis apostles and what is commonlytaught.

Continued on page 9



BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The Second Horseman

In the mid-1980s, at the height of theCold War and nuclear arms race, Presi-

dent Ronald Reagan once openly pon-dered the potential for an age-ending

world war in our time.. . . I turn back to [the] ancient prophets

in the Old Testament and the signs foretell-ing Armageddon, he mused, and I findmyself wondering ifif were the genera-tion thats going to see that comeabout . . . There havebeen times inthe

past when we thought the world was comingto an end, but never anything like this.

Those who lived through World War I feltthe same way. They called it the GreatWar and the war to end all wars. If onlythat were true, and warfare had ended almosta century ago! More than 150 million peoplewouldnt have had their lives snuffed outprematurely by bullets and bombs, stonesand spears in the decades since. But it wasnot to be.

A coming war to end all wars

The war to end all wars iscoming, but itwill follow a time of global conflict and tur-moil unlike anything ever seen (Matthew24:21). That age-ending period will be so

bloody, so dangerous and deadly, thatJesus Christ warned us that if thattime of troubles were not cut short, noliving thing could survive,but for the

sake of Gods chosenit will be cut

short

(verse 22, Revised English Bible, emphasisadded throughout).

In the last issue we saw that the first of thefour horsemen of Revelation 6 represents amassive Satan-inspired religious deception.The ride of the second of the four horsemenunleashes the malignant forces of evil andremoves the last vestiges of peace from theearth. However, Jesus Christ cuts short thishorsemans ride,preventing human extinc-tion, with His appearance and the establish-ment of His world-ruling Kingdom.

Notice what the apostle John saw withthe breaking of the second seal: When Heopened the second seal, I heard the secondliving creature saying, Come and see.Another horse, fiery red, went out. And itwas granted to the one who sat on it to takepeace from the earth,and that people shouldkill one another;and there was given to hima great sword(Revelation 6:3-4).

This vision corresponds with Christsprophecy of the end time recorded in Mat-thew 24: And you will hear of wars andrumors of wars.See that you are not trou-bled; for all these things must come to pass,but the end is not yet. For nation will rise

against nation, and kingdom against king-dom(verses 6-7).The record of history shows a pattern

of the red horse of war often following thewhite horse of false religion. An example isthe Thirty Years War in Europe during themid-17th century. Following the ProtestantReformation, the resultant shift in poweramong European states led to 30 years ofcarnage from 1618 to 1648.

Religion, the newly emerged Protestantversus Roman Catholic theology, was theideology that fueled the winds of war. It led

to strange alliances: Catholic France alignedwith Protestant Holland to offset the power-ful Catholic Hapsburg dynasty. This resulted

Approximately 180 million men, women and children were slaughtered in 20th-century wars.

The new millennium has continued the trend, with the addition of mass-murder terrorism. What

do history and the Bible tell us about the second horseman of Revelation? We continue with our

second article in a series about the horsemen of Revelation.



in prolonging the conflict. By the timepeace (a euphemism for balance ofpower) was restored in 1648 with theTreaty of Westphalia, 8 million people hadlost their livesa staggering toll, espe-cially at that time.

What can we expect to see as this redhorse of war rides across the landscape in

the last days, unleashing the fury ofnations on the world?

A look at the history of war will give usa clue. Lets first look at what the Biblereveals about the roots of war.

The beginning of war

Those who understand mans natureknow he is on a course toward destructionand has been since the beginning.

In Genesis 4 we read of the first humanwar, the conflict between Cain and Abel,the sons of the first human beings, Adam

and Eve. When God refused to accept theoffering of Cain, reading his sinful heart,Cains self-interest was threatened. He didnot control his anger and aggression andsubsequently rose up against Abel hisbrother and killed him (Genesis 4:8).

Expelled from the family environs, Cainwent to the land of Nod on the east ofEden (verse 16). Some biblical scholarssay he built on the ancient site of Jericho.

Regardless of the accuracy of thosespeculations, excavations at the earliestlevels of this site, one of the oldest inhab-ited settlements on earth, reveal a fortresscity with walls 12 feet high and 6 12feetthick.

The remains of a large tower, 30 feetacross at the base and 30 feet high, tell astory of people living in a fortress city,protecting what they hadprobablyfoodfrom those who would take it byforce. Clearly Jericho was a site of conflictlong before Joshua and the Israelites encir-cled its walls.

In Genesis 10, God provides a narrativeof the sons of Noah and the cities thatgrew from their dynasties. One descen-dant, Nimrod, and the city he built, Babel,are inserted into the story.

Nimrod was a mighty hunter before theLORD (verse 9). The before heredenotes in the face of or against, indi-

cating an adversarial relationship withGods purpose and plan. This is madeclearer in the story of the Tower of Babelin chapter 11. The cities associated withNimrod war back and forth for centuries.Babylon becomes a city, then an empire.

Eventually it becomes the symbol of thesystem that opposes God, His people and

His plan throughout the Bible story. It isthat city, described in Revelation 17:5 as aMYSTERY. . . THEMOTHEROFHARLOTSANDOFTHEABOMINATIONSOFTHEEARTH,which in the time of the end provides thecultural and religious inspiration to a polit-ical-religious empire called the beast.

The roots of this end-time system reachback to the pattern started by Nimrod atBabel, thusbridging theintervening cen-turies. This sys-

tem will formthe backdrop forthe final conflictof the agebrought on bythe red horse ofwar.

No war hasbrought peace.Wars waged in

the name of religion have not achievedreligious harmony. No war waged fornational interest has brought lasting secu-rity for any city, state or empire. The peacesought by man is all too often a peace thatonly suits nationalistic interests and lays

the groundwork for subsequent conflict.The terrifying nuclear genie

As a result of the breakup of the Sovietempire in the early 1990s, its nuclearstockpiles and those of the United Stateshave been dramatically reduced. However,the nuclear genie has not been put backinto its bottle. Through various meanssome of that nuclear technology andknow-how has migrated to other nationsor been independently developed.

Today longtime enemies India and Paki-

stan possess nuclear weapons, andalthough currently talking again, twice inrecent years they have rattled their sabers

The war to end all wars is coming, it will follow a

time of global conflict and turmoil unlike anythingever seen. It will be so bloody, so dangerous anddeadly, that Jesus Christ warned that if that time . . .were not cut short, no living thing could survive . . .

Whats at the Root of War?

Volumes have been written describing the root causes ofwar. It has been studied, no doubt, since the first conflicterupted among human beings. The ancient Greeks felt humanbehavior was guided by fear, self-interest and honorcharacteristics that cause war and instability. When these aspectsof human nature create a crisis, the normal course of eventsleads to a breakdown in order, and anarchy or war is the result.

Relations among nations are likewise generally guided byself-interest. When nations interests are jeopardized, the naturalinstinct for self-preservation takes over. War is often the result.

The apostle James wrote quite pointedly on this subject:Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they notcome from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannotobtain. You fight and war (James 4:1-2).

James identifies lust, desire and covetousness as the primarysources of strife among people who cannotfocus on the right relationship with God. Hegoes on to say: Adulterers and adulter-esses! Do you not know that friendship with

the world is enmity with God? Whoevertherefore wants to be a friend of the worldmakes himself an enemy of God (verse 4).Again we see that self-interest plays adominant role in human aggression.

Left to itself, without a spiritual relation-ship with God,the human heartis the seatof conflict. Jeremiah the prophet observedthat the heart is more deceitful than allelse and is desperately sick . . . (Jeremiah17:9, New American Standard Bible).

Jesus Christ confirms that out of the heart proceed evilthoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,blasphemies (Matthew 15:19). The apostle Paul tells us that the

natural, human way of thinking is hostile to God and doesnot submit to Gods law, nor can it do so (Romans 8:7, NewInternational Version).

But the Bible reveals that the real source of this hostility withinhuman beings is Satan the devil. In a heated discussion with thePharisees who were challenging Him, Christ labeled Satan as thesource of human hostility. You are of your father the devil, andthe desires of your father you want to do. He was a murdererfrom the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, becausethere is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from hisown resources, for he is a liar and the father of it (John 8:44).

Paul describes Satan as controlling the power of the air,swaying people to disobedience without their conscious aware-ness. Until mans nature undergoes a fundamental change, hefollows after the natural lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires ofthe flesh and of the mind. He is a child of wrath caught upwith the rest of humanity in a spirit of conflict (Ephesians 2:2-3).

It will take a change of heart along with the addition of GodsSpirit to turn the human mind from pursuing pure self-interest tofollowing the lead of God. We find this solution alluded to in aquote from Russian author Leo Tolstoys famous novelWar andPeace:Drain the blood from mens veins and put in waterinstead, then there will be no more war!

When the world comes under the covenant in which Godwrites His law of love on the human heart through His Spirit, wewill see the end of war. Until then, we will see wars continueand escalate in ferocity and devastation as mankind uses tech-

nological advancements to introduce ever-more-deadly meansof killing other human beings.

Illustration by Sherwin Schwartzrock/Jonathan Koelsch, photo by PhotoSpin



to threaten a holocaust on the South Asiansubcontinent.

Last year North Korea, in violation ofsigned agreements, announced it had devel-oped several nuclear warheads and statedits intention to produce more in short order.U.S. intelligence sources acknowledged theNorth Koreans claim was credible. The rene-gade country also has an aggressive missileprogram, steadily increasing their range to thepoint that last February CIA director GeorgeTenet admitted Korean ICBMs were nowcapable of hitting the western United States.

U.S. analysts also fear that cash-starvedNorth Korea, which markets its Scud-classmissiles throughout the Arab sphere, mayup the ante by adding nuclear warheads to theweaponry it offers for sale around theworldpossibly making them availableto terrorist groups for the right price.

Libya, whose leader Muammar Gadhafi in

December renounced efforts to develop anddeploy weapons of mass destruction, wasquickly found to have a nuclear programmuch further advanced than Western intel-ligence agencies had believedone that hadexisted secretly for more than a decade.

Iran, identified by President George W.Bush as part of the axis of evil (along withIraq and North Korea), has come under suspi-cion of using its Russian-built nuclear reac-torsupposedly built for peaceful power-generation purposesas a cover for a secretnuclear weapons program.

Those suspicions were heightened last yearwhen International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) inspectors found traces of enricheduraniuma crucial component in developingnuclear weaponson Iranian nuclear equip-ment. Tehran responded that the equipmentwas already contaminated when the Iranianspurchased it from a third country and, afterfirst refusing, finally agreed in December toopen its nuclear facilities to more stringentIAEA inspections.

Just about the time Gadhafi renounced hispursuit of nuclear weapons, Pakistans gov-

ernment denied that it had helped spread itsnuclear technology to countries such asLibya, Iran and North Koreabut later con-fessed that Pakistani scientists had done so ontheir own.

Taken together, these many troublingdevelopments point to unstable dictatorshipsand paranoid regimes scrambling to developor acquire nuclear and other weapons of massdestruction so they can become the biggestbully on the block.

Present world scene ready for war

Of course, such weapons would be the ulti-mate tool in a terrorist arsenal should some

groups get the funds or other resourcesneeded to acquire them.

The great fear is that nuclear weapons, orother weapons of mass destruction, wouldfall into the hands of terrorist groups such asal-Qaeda and be used against Westernnations. The end of the Cold War did notbring us any closer to the end of possiblenuclear war. The grim reality is that it simplyshifted the power into the hands of moreplayerssome of whom view themselves ashaving nothing to lose by unleashing suchweapons against the West.

Those who study war understand thepersistent danger. In a comprehensive look atthe subject, author Gwynne Dyer made thischilling, sober and almost hopeless observa-

tion: To begin quite close to the end: we mayinhabit the Indian summer of human history,

with nothing to look forward to but thenuclear winter that closes the account. Thewar for which the great powers hold them-selves in readiness every day may come, ashundreds of others have in the past.

The megatons will fall, the dust will rise,the suns light will fail, and the race may per-ish. Nothing is inevitable until it has actuallyhappened, but the final war is undeniably apossibility, and there is one statistical cer-tainty. Any event that has a definite probabil-ity, however small, that does not decreasewith time will eventually occurnext year,

next decade, next century, but it will come.Including nuclear war (War,1985, p. xi).

One world government

This bleak prospect has led many to con-clude that a supranational world governmentis the only hope for universal peace. Themedieval writer Dante Alighieri, in his workDe Monarchia,speaks of the inevitable con-tentions between two governments whichrequire arbitration by a third power with the

authority to settle the dispute.This third power is either the world-government, or it is not. So, we must arriveat a first and supreme judge for whom allcontentions are judicable . . . Therefore,world-government is necessary for theworld (quoted in The Great Ideas: A Syn-topicon of Great Books of the Western World,Volume II, William Gorman, general editor,War and Peace, 1952, p. 1018).

At the end of the age, war will bring thenations to the point where a system will becreated with the capability, and perhaps even

the stated purpose, of bringing peace to theearth. Revelation 13 describes this systemrising up out of the sea and calls it thebeast.

By a series of apparent miracles, a worldin crisis is persuaded to accept this system.Nations surrender their sovereignty and theworld worships this beast, asking, Who isable to make war with [the beast]? (verse 4).

To enforce this type of peace, this sys-tem has authority over every tribe, tongueand nationa worldwide power (verse 7).But in enforcing its rule it makes war on the

true servants of God, who recognize the true

nature of this power and system as satanic.Revelation 17 describes this beast

receiving power from 10 kingsleadersof nations or groups of nations allied togetherto support this system and its human leader.And apparently it will bring a temporarypeace to the world (compare 1 Thessalonians5:1-3). Yet the peace that is brought ulti-mately leads to war against God. This systemand its leader will make war with the Lamb(Jesus Christ) but in the end will be over-come by Him.

Throughout the ages man has soughtto organize a universal government. Whatbegan thousands of years ago at Babylon as

an attempt to reach to the heavens and defyGod will be resurrected in an age-ending

BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The Second Horseman

Illustration by Sherwin Schwartzrock/Jonathan Koelsch, photo by PhotoSpin

One unmistakable message of the book of Revelationis Gods control of seemingly uncontrollable events.The only hope of human survival is the reality of Christsinterventionto prevent the total destruction of theearth and its inhabitants.



attempt to unify the nations into a globalpolitical and economic system.

The intended goal of this system will beto bring order, peace and prosperity amongthe warring factions of humanity. But oncepeace is attained, the attractive mask willbe removed to reveal a hideous beast of asystem that will tear and destroy any opposi-tion to its rule and authority. The desire of theagespeacewill prove elusive one moretime, when left in the hands of man.

The stage will be set for the climactic

battle at the end.

Christs intervention to save humanity

Peace, when left to human beings, has lit-tle chance of permanence. The rise of thisend-time Babylonian system will be a majorfactor in a time of world calamity unlike anyexperienced in history. The prophet Danielwas told that this period will be a time ofdistress such as has not happened from thebeginning of nations until then (Daniel12:1, New International Version).

Christ spoke of this time as well: For thenthere will be great tribulation, such as has notbeen since the beginning of the world until

this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unlessthose days were shortened, no flesh would besaved . . . He offered the light at the end ofthe tunnel when He added, but for theelects sake those days will be shortened(Matthew 24:21-22).

This final time of war will ultimately restin the hands of God. Remember that Revela-tion 5 shows us that it is the Lamb, JesusChrist, who unlocks the seals. Christ is in

charge of history, and He will bring this trialto a conclusion that will at long last result inpeace for all peoples. But genuine peace willnot come without a terrible cost in humansuffering.

The final war of this age will serve to hum-ble mankind to the point that people finallywill obey God and become willing to live theway that will produce peace.

Look at the description of this time ofworld conflict. It begins in Revelation 8 withthe opening of the seventh seal, containing

seven trumpet plagues of unimaginabledestruction to come on the earth.

The next chapter describes what happenswhen the sixth trumpet sounds: Then thesixth angel sounded: And I heard a voicefrom the four horns of the golden altar whichis before God, saying to the sixth angel who

had the trumpet, Release the four angelswho are bound at the great river Euphrates.So the four angels, who had been preparedfor the hour and day and month and year,were released to kill a third of mankind.Nowthe number of the army of the horsemen wastwo hundred million (Revelation 9:13-16).

This 200-million-person army is fear-some to contemplate. Verse 18 tells us that athird of mankindmore than 2 billion livesat our planets current population levelwill be snuffed out in this age-ending waveof warfare.

One unmistakable message of the bookof Revelation is Gods control of seeminglyuncontrollable events. The only hope ofhuman survival is the reality of Christsintervention to prevent the total destructionof the earth and its inhabitants.

As this crisis at the close of mans agereaches its crescendo, the heavens will open

and Christ will appear on a white horse.Here, in Gods message of hope, appears afifth horseman whose ride will be decisiveand final. Revelation 19:11 says He iscalled Faithful and True, and in righteous-ness He judges and makes war.

Christ will wage this battle in righteous-ness because He alone holds the keys todeath and the grave (Revelation 1:18). Noother person waging battle or war in history,no matter how just the cause may seem,can make this claim. Gods judgment on thenations has been building over the millennia

and will be executed at precisely the righttime.Christs victory in this ultimate battle will

result in the establishment of the Kingdomof God. Finally the world will see lastingpeace.

But before this takes place two otherhorsemen must ride. In our next installmentwell look at the ride of the third horse, fam-ine. BT

The final war of this age will serve to humble mankindto the point that people finally will obey Godandbecome willing to live the way that will produce peace.

An unparalleled religious movement

The ride of the first horseman, false reli-gion, will greatly impact the nations in thelast days. It will mark the expansion of areligious movement without parallel in his-tory.

Religion continues to be a powerful forceamong the nations. A great wave of reli-gious change is moving continually

throughout the world. Not only are the largeworld religions, such as Christianity, Islam,

Judaism and Buddhism, growing andchanging, but countless other new faiths arespringing up, almost on a daily basis.

Scholars who keep track of the world reli-gious scene identify more than 9,900 dis-tinctive religions. Despite predictions at onetime that religion would become extinct, itcontinues to grow, reinventing itself afterthe personal interests and whims of people.

False religion marches on at the sametime that the worlds citizens are desper-ately in need of hope and solutions for sur-vival. Their desperation provides fertileground for religious extremism.

The rise of fundamentalist Islam has pre-cipitated a cultural clash that could lead to

dramatic changes in the world geopoliticalstructure. Religious-based terrorism hasimplicated this major religion in a radicalmovement that will drag others, includingChristian-professing nations, into a clash ofcivilizationsone that could possibly trig-ger the age-ending crisis foretold by JesusChrist.

Christ spoke of false religion as the pre-cursor to wars and rumors of wars. Thesecond seal of Revelation 6 is a rider on ared horse described as taking peace from theearth. Religious strife has often been thecause of war. We will see the connection

between the two in the next issue as we lookat the ride of this next horseman. BT

Four HorsemenContinued from page 5



BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The Third Horseman

People areand have long beensuffering from famine in manyparts of the world. Famine hasreturned to Ethiopia where more

than 7 million are in desperate need ofemergency food supplies in order to avertstarvation. Perhaps another 2 millionrequire immediate help in Eritrea.

For Africa as a whole, the UnitedNations Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) declared in Marchthat 23 of the continents 53 countriesalmost halfface dire food shortages.

More than two million people have

died in the past decade in North Koreadue to food shortages caused by acombination of flood, drought and badgovernment policy created by Kim JongIl, the nations dictatorial ruler, whocurrently threatens the use or saleof nuclear weapons.Periodically he has used histhreats to gain

aid, including food and oil, from theworld community.

The scourge of famine has appearedcyclically throughout history. Often it iscaused by drought, blight, floods andother natural means beyond humancontrol. At other times the causes are alltoo humanwar, social unrest andbreakdown, and inefficient or outrightmalevolent government policy.

In todays globalsociety, there

should be noreal obstacle

to

alleviating the effects of food shortageswherever they occur. Modern agriculturalmethods and generally stable weatherpatterns produce bumper crops in thedeveloped world resulting in massivelevels of food production, more thanenough to feed the hungry of the world.

There is no reason to expect people tostarve when this is coupled with themeans to transport food to any location inthe world. Yet famine and suffering fromfood shortages continueand at timeseven grow.

Its easy to dismiss famine when its on

the other side of the planet or some far-off, isolated corner of the globe. Is itconceivable famine could spread toimpact the wealthy, food-rich countries ofthe world?

The third horseman rides

In the last two issues of The Good Newswe covered the meaning of the first twohorsemen of Revelation 6religiousdeception and war. We come now to thethird horsemans ride. What does itportend for the world?

Notice what it says in verses 5-6:When He opened the third seal, I heardthe third living creature say, Come andsee. So I looked, and behold, a blackhorse, and he who sat on it had a pair ofscales in his hand. And I heard a voice inthe midst of the four living creaturessaying, A quart of wheat for a denarius,and three quarts of barley for a denarius;and do not harm the oil and the wine.What does this mean?

The Expositors Bible Commentaryexplains regarding this passage: This

amount [of money] suggests food pricesabout twelve times higher than normal. . .

The food-rich countries potential to feed the entire planet makes it hard to imagine a famine

extensive enough to thrust the earth into a global crisis. Yet the third seal of Revelation 6, employ-

ing the symbol of a black horse, describes just such a horrifying scene. How could this happen?

What would be its consequences?

Illustration by Sherwin Schwartzrock/Jonathan Koelsch



and implies inflation and famineconditions (Matt 24:7). A quart of wheatwould supply an average person one dayssustenance. Barley was used by the poorto mix with the wheat. Food shortagescause inflation in food prices. And higherprices make the remaining food harder toafford.

Oil and wine, though, are typically

symbols of plenty. The reference herecould indicate there will be pockets ofabundance in the midst of famine. Christsreference to famine in various places(Matthew 24:7) indicates the samepossibility.

The cry to not harm the oil and winecould represent attempts to safeguard thepockets of abundance against plundering.

However, The Living Bible interprets thephrase in Revelation to mean that there ispractically no oil and wine left. Thatwould also fit with the admonition thatwhat is left not be harmedlest there be

none left at all.In any case, the opening of the third

seal indicates the onset of a period ofsevere famine unlike any in the past.While famines of varying severity havestruck throughout history, it appearsthings will get much worse. Most of ushave seen pictures of famine in our time,usually in parts of drought-strickenAfrica. In 1984, a famine in Ethiopiadeveloped through natural means, but wasaggravated by the unstable government.

Millions were at risk of starvation.Thankfully, a massive humanitarianeffort from around the world stopped thefamine from killing as many as predicted.(Even then, corrupt government officialswithheld some of the donated food as aweapon to starve their politicalopponents.)

This was testimony to the generosity ofthe many wealthy nations and the globalmeans of transport that is available.However, if a nations social fabric beginsto unravel, larger problems can set in. The

crises in Africa may be a foretaste oflarger tribulations to come.

Prelude to an apocalypse?

The six southern African countries ofMalawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho,Swaziland and Mozambique currently

suffer from large food shortages and willneed help for months to come. Prolongeddrought and bad farming practices havecontributed to the problem.

But more recently another factor ishaving a growing impact on the ability ofthese countries to feed themselves: Alarge number of agricultural workers areinfected with or have died from AIDS.

About 25 percent of the adultpopulation of these countries now isinfected with the virus. As more adultssuccumb to this plague, fewer people are

left to plant and harvest the crops. Worseyet, as the adult community dies, the

knowledge needed for growing food forsurvival is not passed on to the youngergeneration. Consequently, the societyloses its ability to produce foodeven ifweather and soil conditions were optimal.

An article in Britains The Economistdescribes a woman whose tragic personalexample depicts vividly this largerunfolding catastrophe.

In the past, when food was short,Jenerah Michelo, a Zambian subsistencefarmer, could buy or beg from neighbours.But then her husband died of AIDS,leaving her with six children, a nearlyempty food pot and a debilitating virus inher bloodstream. Now she is too feeble toforage, and neighbors are reluctant to helpbecause she is a patient.

Foreign donors sometimes bring foodand tablets to treat convulsions. But themedicine should be taken after a fullmeal, so I get side effects, I become weakand dizzy, I cannot manage. She cannotget hold of anti-AIDS drugs, but if shecould, they too would be useless withoutadequate nourishment (Cursed, TwiceOver, Feb. 13, 2003).

In his January 2003 State of the Unionaddress, U.S. President George W. Bushpledged $15 billion in emergency medicalaid to Africa over the next five years. Thisis a generous, noble and helpful step in amounting battle, but medicine alone willnot solve the crisis.

Other needs, not the least of which iseducation, come into play. Food is also amajor factor. A person infected with theHIV virus needs extra calories, especiallyprotein, as well as powerful drugs, to keepthe infection from developing into full-blown AIDS. When there are massivefood shortages, the death toll keeps rising.

In large portions of rural Africa today,the future looks bleak. In fact, the future isdying.The combination of famine anddisease is hitting mainly those who are intheir most productive years, those under

40.A majority of victims are women who

traditionally do most of the farming. Asparents die, the children leave school totake care of themselves and other childrenin the family. The tribal village has beenthe traditional backbone of Africansociety, but it is beginning to crack underthe strain of loss from the famine.

A social breakdown is occurring inmany areas of Africa due to the twinproblems of famine and disease. TheEconomistended its report by saying:

Indeed, there are signs of such abreakdown in Mrs. Michelos village: her

Photos (from top): Catholic Relief Services, United Nations

In some countries, food shortage is not the only prob-

lem. The famine is aggravated by the AIDS epi-demicthat grips the continent. About 25 percent ofthe adult population of these countries is infected withthe virus.



family cannot help her, her neighbourswill not, and some have even been stealingher chickens. Such theft was unknownduring previous food shortages, as washoarding by the better off, which has nowbecome commonplace (ibid.).

Devastating famines of the past

Famine is listed in Revelation 6 asfollowing the previous horsemen ofreligious deception and war. Whilenaturedrought, floods and insectinfestationsis often the cause of famine,quite often war and misrule, as well asmalignant political or religious ideology,are prime factors. A look at past faminesgives us an idea of how devastating theycan be.

During the 20th century two humanlyengineered famines brought devastatingconsequences. In 1932-34, the Soviet

dictator Joseph Stalin sought to suppressUkrainian nationalism by forcing a systemof collectivized agriculture on thepeasants. Food supplies were removed tothe cities, crops failed and food supplieswere barred from the region. Thismanmadefamine resulted in the starvationof between 6 and 8 million people. It wasa state-sponsored attempt at genocide.

Chinas Great Leap Forward in 1958-60 resulted in mismanaged foodproduction and the disruption ofdistribution chains. Fertile rice fields were

plowed over and factories built on them.Farms were collectivized. Farmers whoknew only the land were at a loss infactories. Coupled with bad weather, theresult was the death of 20 million peopleby starvation during 1960 and 1961.

Famine in prophecy

Lets step back in history to the book ofLeviticus for a look at Gods warning toman through the example of Israel. Herewe can see the consequences of falsereligion, war, famine and pestilence when

Israel was unfaithful to God.Leviticus 26 is a chapter of promises

from Godthe promise of blessings forobedience and of curses for disobedience.The first step toward blessings isfaithfulness in the worship of the trueGod. You shall not make idols foryourselves; neither a carved image nor asacred pillar shall you rear for yourselves;nor shall you set up an engraved stone inyour land, to bow down to it; for I am theLORDyour God. You shall keep MySabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I

am the LORD (verses 1-2).For keeping His statutes and

commandments, God promises in the nextverses the necessities for plentiful foodproduction: rain in its season so thatthe land shall yield its produce, and thetrees of the field shall yield their fruit . . .you shall eat your bread to the full, anddwell in your land safely.

Continuing, He says: I will give peacein the land, and you shall lie down, andnone will make you afraid; I will rid theland of evil beasts, and the sword will notgo through your land . . . For I will lookon you favorably and make you fruitful,multiply you and confirm My covenantwith you (verses 3-9).

By living righteously and avoiding falsereligion, Israel would be able to receivedivine blessings of good weather, fertilesoil and plentiful rainfall. Peace, materialabundance, good health and the absence

of disease would follow. In other words,the curses like those accompanying thehorsemen of apocalyptic disaster wouldnot go through their land as long as theysincerely obeyed God and worshippedHim in truth.

This promise will be applied to allnations after the return of Christ. In time,they also will receive these same promisedbenefits when they, too, learn to live theway God has revealed in His Word. Butuntil then, we will continue to see cyclicaloccurrence of famine, from all sorts of

causes, resulting in millions of peopledying when they couldhave lived.

Terrifying look into the future

In Deuteronomy 28 God details thehorror of a people stricken with the curseof famine. It demands our attention so wemay understand what lies ahead for theworld when the third horseman rides.

For disobedience, God says He wouldbring a nation from afar to besiege and

blockade the cities. All the food storeswould be forcibly taken. The resultingstarvation would cause the social structureto unravel at a frightening speed. Theresults are horrifying to contemplate.

You shall eat the fruit of your ownbody, the flesh of your sons and yourdaughters . . . in the siege and desperatestraits in which your enemy shall distressyou. The sensitive and very refined manamong you will be hostile toward hisbrother, toward the wife of his bosom, and

toward the rest of his children whom heleaves behind, so that he will not give anyof them the flesh of his children whom hewill eat, because he has nothing left in thesiege . . . (Deuteronomy 28:53-55).

Famine-induced cannibalism is thelowest depth of depravity to which anation can sink. Yet scenes like this haveoccurred in history and God says theywill happen again. Reading this in thelight of todays reported tragedies isprofoundly sobering. But such deeplydistressing events inevitably occur when

men and women become entrenched intheir disobedience to Gods laws.

BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The Third Horseman

Photos (from left:): Corbis Digital Stock, PhotoSpin

For keeping His statutes and commandments,God promises the necessities for plentiful food produc-tion: rain in its season so that the land shall yield itsproduce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. . . you shall eat your bread to the full . . .



Hope in the midst of horror

Jesus Christ wept over the fate that wasabout to fall on Jerusalem in the firstcentury. He knew that terrible sceneswould occur within the city of peace.He wanted to gather the people into aloving and protective embrace and keepthem from such tragedy.

But their sins and defiant attitude wouldnot allow them to repent and escape whatwas coming. So the only course left forthem was impending desolation and thecruel lessons of experience (see Matthew23:37-39). The worst horrors describedabove in Deuteronomy 28 fell on themduring the Roman siege of Jerusalem.Those horrors will only grow as mankindcontinues its self-destructive course ofrejecting God.

Nothing is more basic to human

survival than food and water. Yet theentire world is wholly dependent onelements totally beyond human controlnamely sufficient rainfall, sunshine,temperate weather and fertility of theearth beneath our feetto keep us alive.

The many recurring reports of droughts,floods, losses of fertile land and disturbedweather patterns should wake us out ofour complacency. Ultimately, we aredependent on God for everything. WhenHe decides to pull the plug on the systemsthat support human life on earth, it will be

too late to realize how much weve takenthese things for granted.

One horseman is yet to ride in this grimscenario. We will see in our nextinstallment that he rides in tandem withthis third horseman. We have not yet seenthe full depths of the catastrophe thatawaits the world as the seals of Revelation6 are opened and the human tragediesdescribed in them unfold.

In His Olivet prophecy, Jesus gave thefirst description of the events symbolizedby these sealsand His prophecy isunerring. He foretold that there will be atime of great tribulation, greater than anyprevious world conflict, and unless thattime is cut short, no human flesh willsurvive.

No treaty, no cease-fire, no humanbeing, will be able to stop this end-of-the-age cataclysm. Events will drive the worldinto an out-of-control spin. But for the

sake of a remnant called the elect, His

true followers, those days will beshortened (Matthew 24:21-22).

Too often, people speak of this periodas the end of the world or by some othersimilarly gloomy name. Terrible as thattime will be, the world will not end andhuman life will not be extinguished. TheBible gives us hope that the light willdawn out of the chaos at the end of thisage.

It is when we keep our eyes firmlyfocused on this truth that we can have

hope beyond the tensions of our presentworld. BT

For disobedience,God says He would bring a nationfrom afar to besiege and blockade the cities. All the foodstores would be forcibly taken. The resulting starvationwould cause the social structure to unravel at a frighten-ing speed. The results are horrifying to contemplate.

W

ere all interested in what the futureholds. What can we expect? Is there a

way to know what lies ahead? Where shouldwe look for answers? How will future eventsaffect our families and loved ones?

Human efforts at predicting the future arenotoriously inaccurate. Self-proclaimed seers

and prophets havebeen proven wrongtime and time again.But there is a sure wayto know what thefuture holds. Its writtenin advance in the pages

of the Bible.The book of

Revelation, the lastbook in the Bible, is to

many people the most confusing. They findRevelations strange symbols and imagespuzzling and mysterious. But it need not be so.The books very name means a revealing, away to gain understanding. Its first verse tellsus it was written to reveal things which mustshortly take place.

Weve prepared an exciting, eye-openingbookletThe Book of Revelation Unveiledto help you understand what is going to takeplace in the days ahead. This 32-page, full-colorbooklet will take you through the majorthemes of the book of Revelation, helpingyou discover how it all fits together. In thisbooklet youll learn tomorrows headlinestoday, discovering the major trends and eventsthat will shape the world in the days ahead.You cant afford to be without this pricelessknowledge! For your free copy, contact any of our officesor visit our Web site:

www.ucg.org/booklets



BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The Fourth Horseman

Disease travels in tandem with fear.While the first can lead to the deathof thousands, the second can unravel

the social fabric, disrupting the precariousbalance of relationships essential for thestability of nations.

The most recent disease fear was SARS(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome),which killed hundreds last year and panickedthousands more. Before that it was AIDS,which has killed tens of millions and eventoday is still decimating the populations ofsome countries. Tomorrow it could beanother, even greater plague to sweepacross the landscape, leaving death anddestruction in its wake.

In this series we have been

examining each of the firstfour seals

of Revelation 6. These seals, dramaticallydepicted by four horsemen, show the effectof false religion, war, famine and plagueamong the earths population in the daysleading to the return of Jesus Christ.

Each of these seals represents powerfulforces that devastate human life on the earth.The cumulative effect will lead to such con-ditions that if Jesus Christ did not interveneand cut short the time of trial, no fleshwould be saved (Matthew 24:22).

We now come to the fourth seal, the fourth

horseman, and his ride of death by plague.How will the ride of this horseman affectthe nations of the earth?

The ride of the fourth horseman

Revelation 6:7-8 tells us this about thefourth seal: When He opened the fourthseal, I heard the voice of the fourth livingcreature saying, Come and see. So I looked,and behold, a pale horse. And the name ofhim who sat on it was Death, and Hadesfollowed with him.

The Expositors Bible Commentarysays this about the color of the fourth horse:Pale (chloros) denotes a yellowish green,the light green of a plant, or the palenessof a sick person in contrast to a healthy

appearance. Put bluntly, this horse is thecolor of death.In Jesus parallel prophecy in Matthew 24,

He explained that in the wake of religiousdeception, war and famine would come pes-tilences or disease epidemics (verse 7).

The seals have a cumulative effect. Falsereligion causes instability within relation-ships leading to war. Famine follows war,and when malnourishment occurs and socialsystems break down, human beings are moresusceptible to disease. These seals depict theferocity of problems unleashed on the world

in the lead-up to the Day of the Lord.There would be other calamities as

well. Jesus also listed in the same contextearthquakes in various places (verse 7).Plague in Scripture denotes not onlypestilence but also other calamities innature that God uses to punish a disobedienthumanity. Of course, any such calamitiesmake populations that much riper for thespread of disease epidemics.

The latter part of Revelation 6:8, speakingof all four horsemen, states: And power wasgiven to them over a fourth of the earth to kill

with sword, with hunger, with death and bythe beasts of the earth.

Illustration by Sherwin Schwartzrock/Jonathan Koelsch

Previous articles in this series covered the meaning of the first three of the horsemen of Revelation

religious deception, war and famine. What does the fourth, the pale green horse and its rider, signify?



By the time the fourth horseman completeshis ride, a fourth of earths inhabitants willexperience incredible devastation. The deathtoll will be unlike any from plague anddisease in human history.

To understand how bad it can be, lets goback and look at some of the great plaguesof history.

The Black DeathPerhaps the most famous plague in his-

tory is the Black Death of the 14th century,thought by most to have been bubonicplague. Estimates are that more than 20 mil-lion people (a third to half of Europes pop-ulation) died in the outbreak.

In 1346, reports reached Europe of adevastating disease from China that wasaffecting many parts of Asia. The next yeara mysterious disease appeared in Italy. Shipsfrom the Black Sea sailed into Messina withsailors infected with black boils in theirarmpits and groins. It was the bubonicplaque.

The disease was so lethal that people wereknown to go to bed well and die before wak-ing. There were two types of this plague. Thefirst was internal, causing swelling and inter-nal bleeding. This was spread by contact.The second concentrated in the lungs andspread by coughing airborne germs. Therewas no known prevention or cure.

Whole towns were depopulated. Thesocial structure completely broke down.

Parents abandoned children; husbands andwives left each other to die. In many casesno one was around to bury the dead, bothfrom fear of contagion and lack of concern.One writer of the time tells of observing5,000 bodies lying dead in a field.

In that age, the Bible was the primarymeans to measure any natural calamity. Theonly way to understand what was happeningwas to believe the world was coming to anend. There seemed no hope for the future.

The bubonic plague has appeared in morerecent times as well. The Great Plague of

London in 1664-65 resulted in more than70,000 deaths in a population estimated at460,000. An outbreak in Canton and HongKong in 1894 left 80,000 to 100,000 dead,and within 20 years the disease spread fromthe southern Chinese ports throughout thewhole world, resulting in more than 10million deaths.

The plague came to America from Asiain 1899. Today cases are still reported,and an average of 15 people die each year.The disease originates in rodents and is usu-ally transmitted to people by fleas, although

animal bites can also be the means of trans-mission. It is still a virulent disease. As

few as 10 bubonic plague cells can causea persons death.

Perhaps disease transmission from rodentsis part of what Revelation 6:8 means by deathfrom the beasts of the earth. Microbial andviral infection could also be intended.

Human-engineered plague

Throughout its history, plague has beenused as an offensive weapon against popula-tions. The Mongols would catapult plague-infested corpses over the walls of besiegedcities. Thousands would die as the diseasespread through the walled-in population.

During World War II, Japan dropped

plague-infested fleas on China. Americanresearch growing out of the war experienceled to a decades-long research project atFort Detrick, Maryland, proving that bio-logical warfare was a feasible methodof waging war.

In 1969 U.S. President Richard Nixonordered the research stopped, and in 1972the United States signed a treaty with 70other nations outlawing the production,stockpiling and use of biological weaponsas a means of war. Despite this treaty, it isknown that many nations, rich and poor

alike, have developed biological weapons.The former Soviet Union conducted a

sophisticated effort to manufacture biologi-cal weapons during the Cold War years. Foryears scientists researched ways to geneti-cally alter bubonic plague so as to make itresistant to many forms of modern treat-ment.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in1992, the tracking and inventory of all thiswork has been a great concern. The UnitedStates and its allies fear that some of it couldhave fallen into the hands of terrorist groups

and could one day be used against them.After the first Gulf War in 1991, weapons

inspectors confirmed that Iraq had devel-oped biological weapons and had evenequipped some warheads with germs to useagainst Saddam Husseins enemies. Thelocation of these weapons since that time ispart of the unsolved mystery of that regime.Could some of them be in the hands of al-Qaeda or some other radical Islamic group,waiting to be used on the West?

Are nations prepared?

Today America and the West brace them-

selves for further attacks from terroristgroups. What is perhaps feared most is abiological attack with smallpox or someother widely communicable germ. Expertsknow that the West is woefully underpre-pared for such an attack.

In June 2001, the Center for Strategicand International Studies hosted a senior-level war game examining the security chal-

lenges of a biological attack on the Ameri-can homeland.

The premise was the appearance of a caseof smallpox in Oklahoma City, rapidlyspreading throughout the country. Amongthe lessons learned from the exercise: Anattack on the United States with biologicalweapons could threaten vital national secu-rity interests. Massive civilian casualties,breakdown in essential institutions, viola-tion of democratic processes, civil disorder,loss of confidence in government andreduced U.S. strategic flexibility abroad areamong the ways a biological attack mightcompromise U.S. security (www.home-landsecurity.org/darkwinter/index.cfm).

Other estimates say that within days amillion people would be dead and two tothree times that many infected. No oneknows what lies out there waiting to be usedby groups wishing other nations harm. Weonly know that it couldhappen.

Naturally caused disease

Beyond the human-engineered biowar-

fare, another type of pestilence is waiting aswell. This one lurks quietly in the back-ground and could erupt at any time, say sci-entists who study the subject.

Eighty years ago a sudden mutation inthe virus that causes influenza initiated aworldwide epidemic that in only 18 monthskilled an estimated 25 to 40 million peoplearound the world. Many consider this to bethe worst natural disaster in history (Hill-ary Johnson, Killer Flu,Rolling Stone,Jan. 22, 1998). Some historians feel this epi-demic hastened the end of World War I.

Scientists studying infectious diseaseshave sounded warnings that this could occuragain.

One expert, W.I.B. Beveridge, says,There is no known reason why thereshould not be another catastrophic pan-demic like that of 1918 or even worse. Theflu always has the capability of becoming aglobal plague: a spark in a remote corner ofthe world could start a fire that scorches usall. Should a super flu like that of 1918make a comeback now that the populationhas quadrupled and more than a million

people cross international boundaries on jets

More to StudyBeyond the devastating rides of the fourhorsemen of Revelation lies a fifth rideroffering great hope!

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BEYOND TODAYFEATURE The Fifth Horseman

t seems as if it were a lifetime agothat U.S. President George W. Bushput the prestige of his office into thequest for peace between Israelis and

Palestinians.Yet it was only a little over a year ago

in June 2003that the American presidentmet in Aqaba with Israeli Prime MinisterAriel Sharon, Jordans King Abdullah andPalestinian Authority Prime Minister Mah-moud Abbas to commit their efforts andenergies to the road map for peace.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders shookhands, expressed regret for the suffering ofthe peoples, stated their desire for peacefulrelations and committed to travel the road topeace.

But within days of this highly heralded

meeting, another wave of violence broke onthe streets of Israel. Sniper attacks andhomicide bombings took more Israeli lives.Seventeen were killed in one grisly busattack, followed by other suicide bombings

that killed and maimed dozens more. Israelicounterattacks took the lives of Palestinianleaders as well as innocent children.

No sooner were the hopes for peaceraised than they were dashed to the ground,leaving many to wonder if any peacefulsolution to this problem is possible.

Diplomats shuttle between nations, whilenew solutions to age-old enmities are triedand found wanting. One U.S. senator sug-gested that the United States may need tocommit troops to Israel as a peacekeepingforce. The last thing Israel wants is the death

of American soldiers in defense of its terri-tory. The imposition of a foreign army into

Israel sounds ominous notes to studentsof prophecy.

Fruitless search for peace

Where do we find the way to genuinepeace? Beyond the Middle East, other areasof conflict continue to flare up. In Sudan andthe Congo, little-noticed wars have claimedthe lives of hundreds of thousands of Afri-cans. While attention is focused on Iraq,these wars have been all but ignored by theworld powers. It is a sad and discordantcommentary on those who try to work forpeace in the world.

In the previous four installments of thisseries, we have focused on the rides of thefour horsemen of Revelation 6. These horse-men, who make up the first four of the seven

seals opened by Jesus Christ, show the com-ing destruction caused by false religion,

war, famine and pestilence.Christ said these seals would herald an

unparalleled time of sorrow and great tribu-lation such as has not been since the begin-ning of the world until this time, no, nor evershall be (Matthew 24:7-8, 21).

The prophecies show dark days ahead forthis world and its inhabitants. Revelation 8shows the effect of further plagues, whichaffect the earths vegetation (verse 7) anddevastate the waters of the rivers and seas,the planets life-support system (verses 8 and10).

Conditions will grow so bad that menwill seek the escape of death in that day, butit will not be found (Revelation 9:6). Whywill all this come on the earth, and where

will it lead?Gods righteous judgment

We need to understand a basic principle ofGods judgment on mankind. God takes nopleasure in the death of the wicked. Hewould much rather see men and women liverighteously and enjoy the blessings thatcome from obeying His way. But when theway of man becomes too wicked, there fol-lows a time of righteous judgment, the endof which is ultimate restoration.

Notice Ezekiel 18. In verse 23, God rhe-

torically asks, Do I have any pleasure at allthat the wicked should die? . . . and not thathe should turn from his ways and live?Again in verse 30 He says, Therefore I willjudge you . . . , every one according to hisways . . .Repent, and turn from all yourtransgressions, so that iniquity will not beyour ruin(emphasis added throughout).

The book of Revelation shows that Godwill bring a time of divine judgment on theworld that in the end will result in peace. It isthe onlyway this warring, fractious worldwill be brought to a state of harmony.

Notice what is sung at the throne of Godin anticipation of the seven last plagues. A

Most Bible students focus only on the first four horsemen of Revelation 6. The phrase FourHorsemen of the Apocalypse is synonymous with frightening prophecies. But there is another

horsemana fifth, whose ride signifies a much different future and brings promise of a far

better age to come.

The book of Revelation shows that God will bring a timeof divine judgment on the world that in the end will resultin peace. It is the only way this warring, fractious world willbe brought to a state of harmony.

I

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song of Moses and the Lamb includes thesewords: Great and marvelous are Yourworks, Lord God Almighty! Just and true areYour ways, O King of the saints! Who shallnot fear You, O Lord, and glorify Yourname? For You alone are holy. For allnations shall come and worship before You,for Your judgments have been manifested(Revelation 15:3-4).

Another angel, holding a bowl of judg-ment says: You are righteous, O Lord,the One who is and who was and whois to be, because You have judged thesethings. For they have shed the blood of saintsand prophets, and You have given themblood to drink. For it is their just due(Rev-elation 16:5-6).

To the human mind, unaccustomed tothinking about divine judgment, these wordsstrike a jarring and harsh note. How cana loving and merciful God do this to His cre-ation?

Yet our judgment must be guided andshaped by the words of another angelicbeing from Gods altar, who says, Even so,Lord God Almighty, true and righteous areYour judgments (Revelation 16:7).

The ride of the fifth horseman

However, the fifth horseman of Revela-tion, Jesus Christ, rides not with famine, pes-tilence or a false gospel like the earlier rid-ers. His ride is not the fifth seal of Revelation6. Instead He is the returning King

of Kings and Lord of Lords.Christ rides onto the world stage at themoment of earths greatest crisisandmakes war.But it will truly be the warto end wars.

And it will be a war waged in righteousjudgment. Notice the description in Revela-tion 19: Now I saw heaven opened, andbehold, a white horse. And He who sat onhim was called Faithful and True, and inrighteousness He judges and makes war(verse 11).

Like the first horseman of Revelation 6,

Christ sits astride a white horse, this imagein both places symbolizing conquest. Buthere the similarity ends. Unlike the decep-tionof the first rider, Jesus comes withtruth.His name is The Word of God (verse13) and He wields a sharp sword, which inother places is used to symbolize the Wordof God.

Indeed, there will be a literal battle, afterwhich the true way of God will replace thegovernments of this world and nations willbe subject to the Kingdom of God, the divinereign of Jesus Christ over the entire world.

Unlike the previous four horsemen, whichforeshadowed increasing world

turmoil and tribulation, Christs ride willlead to a time of peace throughout the earth.

The war that finally brings peace

Christ will rule the nations according to allthe prophecies that foretold His righteousgovernment. Revelation 19:15 carries for-ward the thought recorded in Isaiah 11:4:Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword,

that with it He should strike the nations. AndHe Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.He Himself treads the winepress of thefierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

Christs second coming, with power andgreat glory, will be a time of great conflictand a final battle of the nations gathered atJerusalem. These armies gather for what willseem to them to be an earthly, temporal mat-ter. But God will have another purpose.

An angel, emblazoned against the sun,appeared to John with this ominous com-mand to the fowl of the skies: Come andgather together for the supper of the greatGod (Revelation 19:17). Plainly, afterChrist destroys those armies gathered tofight against Him, there will be nothing leftbut food for the scavenging birds.

Read in your own Bible the wordsdescribing this dramatic scene at the end ofthis present age of human misrule. While notpretty, it is the only solution to thecontinual warring of mankind.

When giant oil wells are burning out ofcontrol, often the only way firefighters can

extinguish the flame is by igniting an explo-sion in the well head. The explosion sucksout the oxygen, thus taking away a key ele-ment needed for the fire. Similarly, the righ-teous war Christ will wage is like a massiveexplosion of force that brings the ragingflames of war to a halt. Only then will theconditions be set for ushering in the peace ofthe Kingdom of God.

The Desire of All Nations

Through the prophet Haggai, God sent amessage of comfort that echoes through the

ages. It speaks to the world at the time ofgreat calamity mentioned in Revelation.

My Spirit remains among you; do notfear! For thus says the LORDof hosts: Oncemore (it is a little while) I will shake heavenand earth, the sea and dry land; and I willshake all nations, and they shall come to theDesire of All Nations, and I will fill this tem-ple with glory . . . The glory of this lattertemple shall be greater than the former . . .And in this place I will give peace, says theLORDof hosts (Haggai 2:5-9).

Clearly, Jesus Christ the Messiah is the

Desire of All Nations. What do all nationslong for? Is it not peace? Is it not the chance

to live and love and grow old through thegenerations without fear of war, wasting dis-eases and want?

Throughout the ages men, women andchildren have looked and longed for onewho would bring lasting peace to the world.The first-century world looked for a goldenage that would bring justice and peace tomankind. They sensed the time was right for

restoring a time of prosperity and wisdomwhen the physical and spiritual worldworked together in harmony.

The Roman poet Virgil spoke of the returnof justice from a new breed of men sentdown from heaven and the boys birth inwhom the iron shall cease, the golden agearise . . . He shall receive the life of gods,and see heroes with gods commingling, andhimself be seen of them, and with hisfathers worth reign over a world at peace(Eclogue4.5-13, 15-18).

Of course, the Roman Empire did notbring a golden ageit was more like ironthan gold. The peace of Rome was achievedat the end of the legionnaires short swordwar, but not a righteous one. No leader ornation since then has brought lasting peaceto any age of man.

A lasting peace

Where can you turn for a reliable promiseof peace and justice?

The search will continue for a lastingpeace among todays nations. Conferences

will be held, treaties produced and accordssigned. There will be short periods of calmgiving the illusion of peace. But in the end,the only real peace must be brought by thehand of God through the ride of the fifthhorseman of Revelation.

Today the world awaits the voices thatwill declare, as foretold in Revelation 11:15:The kingdoms of this world have becomethe kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ,and He shall reign forever and ever! BT

Recommended ReadingWhat will happen on earthwhen Jesus Christ returns?What does Bible prophecyforetell about the transfor-mation of our world underthe reign of the Messiah?Why mustHe return? Learnthe hopeful, encouragingtruth in our free booklet TheGospel of the Kingdom.Andto better understand the events prophesied forthe end time, also request or download yourfree copy of The Book of Revelation Unveiled.

Contact any of our offices or request or downloadthem from our Web site at

www.ucg.org/booklets

The Horsemen of Revelation 17


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each day, experts say it could kill hundredsof millions (ibid.).

Influenza is one of the most underratedbiomedical hazards in todays world. Its pos-sible that new super strains may already beevolving. Medical science takes eight monthsor more to create a vaccine once a new strain

appears. Researchers know they cannot stopa pandemic. By the time authorities under-stand what is happening, it would be too lateto spare millions.

Last years outbreak of SARS was rapidlyidentified and its genetic makeup fullydecoded in a matter of weeks. Scientists fromaround the world worked together using thelatest technology and communication tools tomake this breakthrough. By contrast, it tookseveral years to do the same with the HumanImmunodeficiency Virus (HIV) when it firstsurfaced more than 20 years ago.

However, it could take years to developa viable vaccine to combat SARS. In themeantime other mutant strains are waitingto jump the species barrier from animals tohumans. When they do, the results could becatastrophic. A breakdown caused by warin one part of the world, coupled with an out-break of influenza, as in World War I, wouldbe all it would take to set in motion a diseasepandemic on the scale of those described inthe book of Revelation.

The seals in context

When we look at the four seals of Reve-lation 6, we have to understand them inthe context of Gods agelong message tomankind. False religion, war, famine and dis-ease are the results of mans broken relation-ship with Him. And when these horsemenmake their rides, it will be after repeatedwarning and pleading from God to turn fromsin and live righteously based on His eternallaw of love toward God and man.

When God first set ancient Israel in aland of promise, He gave them instruction on

how to live and conduct their affairs in a waythat would bring peace and

bible study aid - the horsemen of revelation

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