What Does The Bible Say About The Four Horsemen?

Matt Stokes: 00:00 We could spend weeks talking about how worthy he is as we've been taken up in the Book of Revelation, into the throne room of heaven. And it's been remarkable and it's just completely in alignment with the value that we have here at Coastal regarding proclaiming what has priority in our lives publicly, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who sits upon the throne and the Lamb who was slain. And we found out as we were reading Revelation 5, that the Lamb, because he was slain and because he redeemed us, he's the one who's worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals.

Matt Stokes: 00:44 And that's where we are today in Revelation, chapter 6, if you want to turn there in your Bibles, if you're watching online, open your app. We're going to be in Revelation chapter 6, and we're going to look at the four horsemen of the apocalypse today, in what most people would consider to be the unfolding of what's called the great tribulation. The Lamb breaks the seals, and he reveals the significance of the unfolding future events from God's perspective, and we're brought into that as we read together. So I'm going to read the first eight verses, come with me, look deeply at this passage, and then we'll talk about it for a few minutes.

Matt Stokes: 01:29 Revelation chapter 6, "As I watched, the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then I heard one of the four living beings say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory. When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come!” Then another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere. When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay. And don’t waste the olive oil and wine.” When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals."

Matt Stokes: 02:41 A very intense passage as we begin here the morning. The greatest labor into the passage for me wasn't necessarily the research because I find it fascinating, the greater labor was to actually simplify it and then find it applicable to our Coastal Community in a way that would encourage us. So let me begin at the beginning, as I told you, we're moving out of what would be considered the enchantment phase of Revelation into the gnarly chapters that begin in 6. And I'll say it as simply as I can, there are three sets of judgments, there are seven seals, then there are seven trumpets, and then there are seven bowls. Seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls, these three form the core of Revelation. And here's what's interesting, as each seal upon this scroll is opened, and next week, I'll try more to explain to you how these seals are upon this scroll and how they're opened. As each one's opened, Christ the Lamb sets in motion, he reveals the events of not just human history, but our future reality.

Matt Stokes: 04:47 The scrolls are not completely all opened until the seventh seal is broken, and that would be the end of what we would call the seven seals judgment. And that's what we're going to look at just for a few minutes today, for as much time as we have. The contents of the scroll reveal man's rebellion, the contents of the scrolls reveal God's righteous revelation of his wrath, and the contents of the scroll also reveals God's authority over the events of human history. That last one is particularly important, God's authority over the events of human history.

Matt Stokes: 05:24 Now are you with me? Say, yes. Here's where some people get tripped up, there are some that actually see this and suggest that the judgements form a chronological sequence from beginning to end. Each set of judgments flowing from the seventh judgment of the previous set, and so when you put the seven judgments together with the three overarching judgments, you get 21 successive judgments. And I've seen this in timelines, that's why I'm not real fan of timelines because they can be confusing in some ways, and I'm not sure what the benefit is of memorizing the timelines. But more likely, more likely, the relationship of the seals, and of the trumpets, and the bowls, they're actually integrated into one another.

Matt Stokes: 06:19 Just like other Jewish apocalyptic literature, for example, take the Book of Daniel. You'll see already, if you're with Matthew on Thursday nights in chapter 2, you saw that there was this epic statue that was made of various elements. But then in chapter 7, you're going to see these four mysterious living beings or these beasts. And then in chapter 8, you're going to see this really strange imagery of male sheep and this goat and what happens between them. And then after 8 comes 11. 2, 7, 8 and 11, and 11 is actually the culmination of all the first three coming together. Do you see what I'm saying? So each set is conveying and increasing intensity, each set is adding new details of God's judgment against those who have rebelled against him on the earth. Hopefully that makes sense.

Matt Stokes: 07:14 In this perspective, all three cycles at the end, they all come to the same chronological point, and that
is the return of Jesus Christ. So I want to encourage you as you go through the Book of Revelation, don't try and understand it chronologically because that's not necessarily how John was seeing it as it was laid out. He's laying out various judgments that come in the form of the seals breaking, and these trumpets blowing, and these bowls being poured out, but they integrate together all culminating somewhere around Revelation chapter 19 with the coming of Christ. So what we're looking at today are these four horses, and these four horses and the four riders are a foretaste of the final judgment that is yet to come when we get there in the Book of Revelation. These four horses, if you're a student of scripture, you might know this, they're actually also found in Zechariah chapter 6, within extremely similar depiction and explanation.

Matt Stokes: 08:19 The riders described in these verses are commonly referred to as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which is the title for today's message. So let me explain, four horses. These four horses have four riders, and these four riders apparently have four different colors upon their horses, some even say the riders themselves are this color as well.
Matt Stokes: 08:45 The first one is white, and again, here's another trip up, some people assume that the horse that is white represents victory. Which sense because John is writing during a Roman Era, and when Roman conquerors would go through and conquer an area or region, they would ride through victoriously on a white horse. So a white horse does represent a victorious warrior, so people say, well, that must be Christ. Because I don't know a lot about the Book of Revelation, but I do know that Christ comes back on a white horse, right? I mean, I've sung a few songs about that, and I've heard that expressed. Yes, he does come on a white horse in chapter 19, so what I'm trying to say is there's more than one reason that we know that this white rider is not Christ. And I'll just explain quickly, first of all, it would be extremely premature for Christ to be riding with these three. Which one is not like the others, this is not Christ along with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, right? He is not going to reveal himself until his second coming, and that is going to be Revelation 19.

Matt Stokes: 09:55 We know that this rider carries a bow. So if you remember from the earlier chapters of Revelation, particularly chapter 1 and moving into chapter 2, we see these depictions and these explanations. We know that Christ does not come on a white horse with a bow, he comes with what? He comes with the sword of his mouth. So apparently with a single breath, or even with a word, maybe even a whisper, he completely annihilates his enemies upon the earth for their rebellion against God. It says here that this rider upon the white horse will win many battles, Christ did not win many battles, he wins the one great battle and has the final victory in Revelation 19. These four riders and their horses, what they do is they're representative of judgment. And what's really important to see, and this is basically the crux of my message, is that it's a limited kind of judgment. And I'll explain that to you later, there are boundaries on this judgment that is brought by these four horsemen of the apocalypse, or why wasn't the whole world just wasted in this one moment.

Matt Stokes: 11:10 After the first white horse, the second horse is a red horse. Red representing warfare, it's representing bloodshed, the color red is often associated with terror or death. You'll see a red dragon in chapter 12, then we'll talk about this one who's called the great whore of Babylon and she is wearing purple and scarlet, which is red. Purple always reminiscent of royalty, and the red also of bloodshed. The red horseman represents bloody violence on the Earth.

Matt Stokes: 11:47 Let me explain how real this is. Most of us know the Romans created an empire that was just epic, it was just enormous. And they established something they called the Pax Romana, do we all know what that is from school? The Pax Romana is Latin for Roman peace, so when Rome ruled over their empire, they ruled with peace. But you may not know this, they killed tens of thousands of people, and put others into slavery, and put others to the sword, in order to establish and maintain that peace. So was it really peace at all? So the red rider is representing widespread violence, that's the horrible reality, the rider is representing slaughter. And I'm going to say the rider also represents civil upheaval and ethnic cleansing. Why would I say that? Because this rider doesn't have a bow, this rider has a sword, and it says it's a great sword. In the New Living, it says that it's a mighty sword. Here's what you might find interesting is that the word sword used here means short sword, not like the long medieval battle swords, this is a short sword. So if it's a short sword, then why would it be a mighty sword, or why would it be a great sword? Because this short sword did a lot of damage, it was great in terms of its intensity, it was great in terms of its impact. This was the sword that the Romans would use for execution, when they would systematically execute certain people of maybe a certain ethnicity or race. And so what I'm saying is what you're looking at here may be systematic killing, and in doing so, they're removing peace from the earth.

Matt Stokes: 13:36 And I might say, if I had the time, which I don't today. To say that I don't necessarily think that first comes to the white rider who's war, and the second one comes bloodshed. Doesn't the first one have bloodshed, well, I'm saying they may actually be against each other. Does not the scripture say that Jesus, in the last days, nation will rise against nation. Is it possible that white rose up against red? Because nation will rise up against nation, and there will be wars and rumors of wars. And I'm saying, this is all conflict that's going to be happening upon world governments throughout the earth. And if I have the time, I'm going to try to explain that's already happening now. So what you're seeing here is not some kind of Sci Fi, what you're looking at here is happening now.

Matt Stokes: 14:21 Maybe it's not happening right here, right here in this room, although it may almost. I don't want to scare anybody, but I don't know if anyone was looking out the window just a few minutes ago, there were four cop cars that just cut off our entire church from one side of the other, and I saw a police officer with a shotgun running right down our street down West Avenue, as you were sitting here in the midst of worship. So I'm just saying when people are crying peace and safety, do you remember the other day I was saying it's okay, it's not okay. Obviously they apprehended the individual, I was is able to talk to one of the law enforcement, and thank them also for their service and their protection. Can we just say thanks to them right now? I don't know if any of them, I said, can I ask you a question, I'm the pastor? He was like, I know who you are. I was like, is that good or bad? But I went to try to get some details on what was happening, apparently there was some kind of robbery. I couldn't get any details, but I did thank him for his service. And if any of them may be watching online or seeing this, sometime later, we want to express our thankfulness for the protection that we have, because we have people that are guarding these doors. We have security in this room that you don't even know about, sort of like us marshals, but we'll talk about that some more time later. But the point I'm trying to make is that, like I couldn't ask for a better illustration, oh can someone rob a bank around here? Like it just happened, like right just on our street.

Matt Stokes: 15:46 So you have the white horse, then you have the red horse. Now you have next a black horse, and the black horse represents economic dysfunction, the black horse represents social dysfunction, indicated by the fact that while he's riding he's got these scales that he's holding high. It's representative of rapid inflation, because scales were used for measurement, and whenever there was scarcity, things would be very carefully measured. And so here comes famine and they're measuring everything, and you can see it's rampant inflation by the cost of the essentials of life. Did you see that, a loaf of bread or three loafs of barley will cost a day's pay. And yet luxury items, in case you've missed this, because I never saw this. And I've read Revelation more than once, but I never really saw this, the price of luxury items like oil and wine remained protected. Did you see that? A loaf of bread or three loaves of barley for a day's wage.

Matt Stokes: 16:47 And actually in the Greek there's two words you've used here, don't hurt the oil and wine, be careful with the oil and wine, preserve the oil and wine. It uses a word that means to disturb or to disrupt, and then there's a Greek negative word in front of it to make it extra emphatic, like do not touch this, do not mess with this. So apparently, you know, you have the luxury items like oil and wine, they remain protected. It's an image of social and economic imbalance, do you see this, where there's the haves and the have-nots. And there's some people that are going to be in this time, there'll be working all day just for a loaf of bread to feed themselves, let alone their own families. And then there'll be these others that will be wealthy, and filled with decadence, and living lives of complete avarice on the other side, and somehow that wedge or that distinction between them just gets wider and wider. And the rich will be enjoying plenty of oil and wine indicating, watch this now, indicating eventually a global governmental leader that will finally control the economy and promise to feed the hungry. Can you see how this could happen? Then all of a sudden this global economic leader rises up with a solution to the famine, and everyone loves him, and gives praise and rejoices for the new economic global leader who's bringing peace and safety too our world.

Matt Stokes: 18:27 But the worst is yet to come, see after you have war, and then you have bloodshed, the next thing that comes is what? Famine, because now things are scarce because there's all kinds of scarcity because there's no food left. And then next comes what? Disease. The fourth seal comes, and this ghastly looking horse arrives, it's a pale horse. The word in the Greek is the word khloros it's where we get the word chlorophyll from, which most of you know is one of the main ingredients within a plant, right? So you know how plants are usually tuberous and they have that light green hue to them, that's the pale green we're talking about here, and that pale horse represents death. In the ancient world, pale green was the color that was depicting a corpse. Not unlike today, if you're like a zombie fan and you watch zombie movies, they always have this pale greenish look to them. I mean, that comes from somewhere, right?

Matt Stokes: 19:23 John said, "That death came riding upon a pale horse, and the grave was following him." I don't know if he was on his back, like woohoo, death and the grave, like here they come. Or was it somehow mysteriously just like looming with him, it's not clear whether death was separate with him on the horse, or he wrote along with the death and the grave. But what is clear as crystal, and please hear this today, what is clear as crystal is Christ communicates that he alone is the one who holds the keys to hell and death, he alone is the one that holds the keys to death and the grave. We saw that in Revelation chapter 1, and he wanted to make a very specific, I'm the one who holds the keys to death and the grave. Death claims the body, the grave claims the soul. That's how the understanding was back in the ancient mind. That's why, did you ever wonder when you read Romans 8, when it says, "Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?" They saw an interesting distinction between the two, death claims the body, the grave claims the soul. Jesus says, I am Lord over both, I hold the keys to death and the grave.

Matt Stokes: 20:31 Now these two riders, these two riders are given power over 1/4th of the earth. Isn't that interesting? 1/4th indicating, here's what it's indicating...And if you've got a pen, maybe you want to write this down. What that's indicating is this, why 1/4th, because God is limiting his judgment. God actually places limits on his judgment. His judgment is not yet complete, or else these four horsemen just would have annihilated the earth. In this case, the limited punishment not only demonstrates God's wrath on sin has begun, but it's also demonstrating his merciful love. As he's giving unbelievers an ample opportunity to see and experience this and turn towards Christ, and turn away from their sin, before he brings this final judgment. Like this is paramount, you have to see what's happening here with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and why their judgment is limited. And I say that, and I'm drilling down on this, because I believe as far as application goes, the challenge for the believer and particularly non-believers alike is to see that this passage recognizes the mercy and the justice of God. Yes, there's justice on sin, yes, but also God's showing his mercy. So as you're here trying to absorb all of this, and you're like really quiet, either you don't get anything I'm saying, or you're just trying to observe it all like, wow, okay, this is really deep. Do you see the integration of God's mercy and love as the Book of Revelation is being unfolded before you? Okay, three people see it and that's important to me, thank you for your encouragement.

Matt Stokes: 22:22 Here's the point I'm trying to make today in this explanation of these first few seals, many of the power structures of the world, many of the governments that exists globally, their activity primarily leads to war, and violence, and economic imbalance, and then eventually death. If you don't know it, some of you need to turn on the news and see what just happened this past week. Some of you need to turn off the news by the way, am I right or am I right? Like there are some people, someone's clapping out there, turn off that news, turn it off. Because you're just filled with so much anxiety and depression, and it's actually having a counter reaction instead of it bringing you some kind of inspiration that God's in control, that God's on the throne, that God's got a plan, that God's got a purpose, God's power will prevail, and it's true.

Matt Stokes: 23:29 But some of us, we've taken it too far and we're all tweaked up, and I'm just saying some of us we really need to get back to...That's why I love that this first quarter, we're really focusing on worshiping God, and really getting centered down on him. But the point I'm trying to make today, and if you get one thing, please get this and it's worth writing down. It's pointless to put our lasting hope in earthly power structures. Let me say it again. It's pointless to put our hope in any world governments. That's very discouraging, I'm not sure if we should applaud that, but I understand you're saying you agree with me and thank you.

Matt Stokes: 24:11 But can you applaud this, our hope is in Jesus Christ, go ahead and applaud that. And when I say hope, I'm talking about the biblical definition of hope, which is hard to explain. Again, I was online this week with again, remarkably, 83 pastors from India. And I was trying to explain to them that the word hope in American English literally just means like I have a longing. The word hope in American English is like, I have a wish, right? But in the Bible, the word hope in its original language, it literally, it means concrete confidence. Concrete confidence, it means absolute assurance, and particularly, contextually, the confidence that comes from knowing Christ. I wonder if you have it today, do you have the confidence that comes from knowing Christ? Hebrew says that faith, faith is the assurance of things we hope for, and the evidence of things unseen. Hebrews also said, "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised you is faithful." The Psalms say, "Now O Lord, what shall I wait for, for my hope is in you." The Psalms also say, "For you O Lord, and in you, I trust and I place my hope." The Psalms say, "You are my hiding place and my shield, and I hope in your word." The Psalms also say, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and I hope in your word. My soul longs for your salvation, and I hope in your word." The Psalm say, "Blessed is the one who puts his hope in the Lord his God. The Psalm say, "Why is my soul cast down? Why is my soul disquieted within me? But I will hope in God." The Psalms say, "Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, who have reverential awesome respect for him, and those who hope in his preserving steadfast love." The Book of Romans says that the God of hope will fill you with joy and peace in your believing in him, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you might abound in hope." Romans chapter 5 says, "And hope makes us not ashamed, you will not be ashamed if you have hope in Christ." Hope, hope, hope makes us not ashamed for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has given to us. The apostle Paul said, it's by grace by which we stand and by which we're saved, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Colossians says, "That God has chosen to reveal a mystery to the world, and is the mystery it's Christ in you, the hope of glory." In Ephesians, Paul prays for the church, he's like, "I pray that you might receive wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened, so that you might know the hope that you have been called to in Christ." Jeremiah said, "For you know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to give you a future and a hope." Peter said, "Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ." I wonder if you have that kind of hope today, that kind of concrete confidence in Christ today, that absolute assurance in the risen savior and the resurrected Lord.

Matt Stokes: 27:35 The last phrase in verse 8, mentions this fourfold set of woes, the sword, famine, disease, and wild animals. And I'll say it again, first of all there comes the sword and more, and what comes after that, except for the fact that there's famine and scarcity, then what comes after that except for disease and sickness, and apparently people were actually losing their places of shelter and they're in exposure even to wild animals. If you think that's crazy, Ezekiel chapter 14 communicates the exact same four woes, like thousands of years earlier, you're looking at something that's also being repeated as it's being unfolded in the Book of Revelation.

Matt Stokes: 28:19 This summarizes the despair of our earthly existence, that's what you're looking at here today. In other words, the shadows of these four horsemen throughout history say so much about our future reality. They do? Well what are they saying? If they say so much, what are they saying? They're saying that our fallen world cannot offer lasting hope to humanity. Our fallen world, our fallen government, our fallen global structures, cannot offer lasting hope to humanity. That's why in Hebrews, and if you know the context of Hebrews, there were believers that were falling away and leaving their faith out of fear. And he says, no, no, no, you have this hope, you have this concrete confidence, it's like an anchor for your soul, and he says that in the context of naming Jesus Christ.

Matt Stokes: 29:30 Let me read to you a quote from CS Lewis, one of the most prolific Christian authors of another generation, and he said this, and this is in the context of hope as well. "Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things that Christian has been to do. It does not mean that we are to leave this present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought the most of the next." CS Lewis. And if you're not aware, there are more Christians who have built hospitals in this country than any other organization in the world. It's Christians who actually go out and try to reach lost people. It's Christians who feed the hungry. It's Christians who give clothes to those who are experiencing a certain measure of barrenness and exposure. It's Christians, Christians who didn't decide to just leave hell to take over earth. They said, no, no, that's not what we're going to do, we're going to redeem this world for Jesus Christ, we're going to preach the gospel no matter how dark, no matter how scary, no matter how fearful I or the world may become, the gospel will be preached. Because why? Because I have a hope and it's in Jesus Christ. I have a concrete confidence, I have a blessing assurance that Jesus is mine.

Matt Stokes: 31:13 That's why it says in Titus chapter 2, it says looking unto Jesus, it says, "Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus. Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself, his own special people, that are zealous for good works." Does your confidence in Christ, does your hope and assurance in Christ, actually lead you to do works for Christ? To go reach people that have never been reached, to turn to people that and see people you've never seen, and say to them something that you've never said? Which is there's a savior, and his name is Christ the Lord, and they could save you from sin. Does your confidence cause you to go to places that you've never been, and do what you've never done?

Matt Stokes: 32:09 In contrast to the world's destructive ways we see in these first eight verses, the fifth seal, we'll look at next time we're together, God willing. And it introduces, this is so mysterious, it introduces the martyrs, those who have died for believing in Christ. And the martyrs are crying out to God on the throne saying, how long do you intend to deal with evil? How long before you vindicate us? How long before you justify us? How long before you avenge us? Which to us in America, we really don't understand so much as a national vengeance, or justice, but you live in countries like Pakistan, or Somalia, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and you would understand how there are entire people's, and there's mass genocides that are going on. I remember even in the Balkans, when I was in my late teens, there were massive amounts of people were being killed by global leaders. I'm saying, you're kidding yourself if you don't think that that can happen here.

Matt Stokes: 33:32 Conquering tyrants in world governments bring war, they bring famine, they bring pestilence and disease, there's certainly nothing new there when it comes to the suffering people around the world. Do you know that there's enough food in this world to feed 10 billion people, but yet starvation still exists around the world. Why? Well is it because sometimes there's places that they don't experience enough rainfall. Yeah. Are there a landslides that come and cover crops? Wasn't there locust about a year and a half ago that were like wiping out crops massively in Africa? Yeah, but we've got enough food though, we've got enough food to feed 10 billion people. Why isn't the food getting there? Did you ever ask yourself that question? Is it possible, is the issue refrigeration? Maybe. But it isn't it really the fact that there are governments that are actually restricting the food from the people to make sure they have government control over them, starving them in Ethiopia, even North Korea?

Matt Stokes: 34:44 If you're doing your research, most of us know about the equality act that was just passed. So for me, how long is it going to be before I'm forced to have to perform weddings that are completely in violation of my biblical conviction. And then what'll happen is, is I won't just be sued, it'll be a hate crime and I'll go to jail. And so will Matthew Maher, hopefully we'll be in the same cell and we can have a thumb war every day. From the days of the Romans and that empire, to the most recent wars, we can easily recognize the shadows and the anticipations of these terrifying horsemen, they're already here in some sense. That's why in the Book of Revelation, it's been such a source of listen, encouragement. This isn't a book of doom and gloom, this is a book of encouragement for suffering believers throughout generations of history. They see the Lamb and he's opening the seals, and they reveal that God's in control and his purpose is going to be accomplished. Let me say it again as you go, Revelation teaches us that God is in control and his purposes will be accomplished.

Matt Stokes: 36:08 So hear God say surrender to me today, be patient, rest, give me place, and everything wrong will be made right and everything in the dark will be brought into the light as you hope in me, as you place your concrete confidence in me. How long will we put our hope in the power structures of this world? How long will we put lasting hope in earthly government, before we realize those efforts are completely and utterly futile? Would to God that every believer would have the discernment to see this now, before it gets too late. Our fallen world cannot offer lasting hope to any nationality. Our fallen world cannot offer hope to any ethnicity. Our fallen world cannot offer hope to any society or community in humanity, but Jesus Christ can. And with that, Amen.



Recorded in Ocean City, New Jersey.