REVELATION LESSON 15

    We will begin this lesson in Revelation 6:1 "And I saw when the
Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of
thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see."

    The Lamb here is Jesus Christ, the only one worthy to open the
seals. This noise as thunder indicates God revealing something to His
people. Many times throughout the Bible, God's voice has been mistaken
for thunder. Here one of the four beasts, or four living beings, says
"...Come and see...". Of course, all of the four gospels say "Come and
see". We are invited to look into the heavenly stage and see things
never told upon the earth until now. We will see in the opening of
this first seal, the triumph of Christ and His church.

    Many believe this very first horse that we will see is indicative
of the antichrist, but I do not.  Just the fact that it is glistening
white indicates that it is Jesus.  "White" means victory.  Jesus won
the victory when He was crucified on the cross. We are invited in this
verse to see a movie of heavenly things.  At least John was told to
come and see.

       Revelation 6:2 "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he
that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went
forth conquering, and to conquer."

    This scripture immediately brings thoughts of an earthly
conqueror, but this may not be the case at all.  The Bible is spoken
of as a two edged sword. We are told over and over that the flesh and
the Spirit are in constant conflict.  Jesus certainly did conquer sin
and death. Not all battles that are fought are for material things.
The Lord has His army of believers who are, even now, in mortal battle
with the enemy of their souls. Jesus will be crowned Lord of Lords and
King of Kings. Jesus has a rainbow, but I really believe this bow has
to do with battle. The bow is called the Word in Habakkuk 3:9. Jesus
fights with the Word.

    A white horse in battle meant victory.  When a Roman soldier won a
battle he would ride a white horse in a victory celebration. We read
"...though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow..."
Isaiah 1:18, washed in the blood of the Lamb.  White throughout the
Bible indicates purity, and holiness, and righteousness.   Examples of
white:  white throne, fine white linen, white cloud, white robes,
white hair. White has to do with those in right standing with God, or
sometimes is symbolic of good. The enemy, Satan, is connected with
darkness, or lack of light.  Antichrist might ride an off white horse.
He is a copy-cat of God. It might at first sight appear to be white,
but not really white.

    The greatest conqueror who ever lived was Jesus Christ.  He not
only conquered sin and death, but He will lead His army of believers
in battle against the enemy. In chapter 19 of Revelation we see Jesus
on a white horse.  He leads His people in battle, and all of us are on
white horses, as well.

    Revelation 19:14 "And the armies [which were] in heaven followed
him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean."

    When we get to chapter 19, you will see what kind of battle this
 is speaking of. I believe the white horse we see here in Rev.  6:1-2,
 is the very same white horse that Jesus rides in chapter 19 when He
 leads His people to victory. In this first of four horsemen of the
 apocalypse we see Jesus and His church victorious.

    Revelation 6:3 "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard
the second beast say, Come and see."
    Revelation 6:4 "And there went out another horse [that was] red:
and [power] was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the
earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto
him a great sword."

    John is encouraged to "...Come and see...".  We, too, may get a
glimpse through the eyes and the pen of John. This red horse means
war. This war could be twofold in nature.  There is a constant attack
of the devil and his demons on Christians, but I believe this goes
much further than this. This red horse (in my opinion) indicates a
large war. This red horse also means the martyrs who died holding up
the name of Jesus. Blood ran freely all throughout the Bible.
Believers in some parts of the world are even being made martyrs now.
War is on every side. In Israel and Lebanon these days there are many
killed every day. Ireland has what they call a holy war going on. Even
these are not the extent of what I believe this Scripture means. I
really believe this red horse has to do with a global war of great
magnitude.  The Spirits of war.

    We read in Zechariah about these four horses, and we can easily
see what it is because the Bible tells us. Zechariah 6:1 "And I
turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came
four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains [were]
mountains of brass."

    "Brass" means judgement. The number "four" means that this is a
universal message.
    Zechariah 6:2 "In the first chariot [were] red horses; and in the
second chariot black horses;"
    Zechariah 6:3 "And in the third chariot white horses; and in the
fourth chariot grisled and bay horses."

    This is a vision of the same horses that we are reading about in
Revelation. To understand the entire message, you need to read chapter
1 and chapter 6 of Zechariah.

    Zechariah 6:4 "Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked
with me, What [are] these, my lord?"

    When Zechariah asked the angel what this meant, this is the answer
he got. Zechariah 6:5 "And the angel answered and said unto me, These
[are] the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing
before the Lord of all the earth."

    We see again the spirit of war in this red horse.  Jesus, Himself,
said "...I came not to send peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34. This
sword can even separate families. We read, if you are a Christian,
your enemies might even be of your own household.

    In V-4 of Revelation the "...that they should kill one another..."
is not just spiritual. I believe it has to do with a great war about
the time of the return of Jesus.

    The word translated "...sword..." in V-4 means the sacrificial
knife, such as the one Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac with,
Genesis 22:6-10. This just strengthens the argument for Christians
being martyred. At any rate, the red horse symbolizes the spirit of
war.

    Revelation 6:5 "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the
third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and
he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand."

    The third living being, some believe, had the face of a man and
this symbolizes the trial of the church. The rise of heresy in the
church, could possibly be the spiritual meaning of this third living
being.

    This also could be a message of hard times for all of mankind.
    "...black..." symbolizes:
        woe
        mourning
        terrible times
        famine, physical or spiritual
        evil
        opposite of goodness
        everything that oposses God

    The "...pair of balances..." (scales) shows a weighing.  We shall
be weighed in the balance, and see if we stand or fall.  This balance,
also, indicates a shortage of food.  We see this in the color black,
and in the balances. The famine will be so great, food will be weighed
by the ounce and dispensed carefully.  This famine will probably be as
bad as the famine that was in Egypt in Joseph's time. Probably drouth
will trigger crop failures in many places. Only the very rich will be
able to buy food.  Personally, I believe, God will instruct
Christians, who are totally sold out to Him. They will know when to
plant and exactly what to do, as Joseph was told, of God, what to do.

    Christians will be saved IN the famine and not FROM the famine.
Noah was saved IN the flood, not FROM the flood.  God can rain manna
from heaven if necessary. I believe God will set up places of refuge
where believers can run, so they can have physical and spiritual food.
God will not forsake the righteous.

    V-6 "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A
measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a
penny: and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."

    This voice is not the voice of the living being, but of Jesus, who
is in the midst of them. God alone knows what shall happen.

    In the parable of the vineyard, Matthew 20:2, a days work was a
penny. This "...penny...", in the verse above, means a full day's pay.
I believe this means that a loaf of bread will be so inflated in
price, because of scarcity of food, that it will take a whole day's
wages of a man to buy one loaf.  We surely know that it is a
"...measure...", which is a very small amount. Barley seems to be a
third the cost, so perhaps a meager meal of barley for three could
cost a whole day's wages.  This is run-away inflation to its worst
possible conclusion. In many parts of the world inflation is already
to that terrible extreme. When inflation is coupled with famine, we
see a situation more horrible than we care to imagine.  We must stay
closely in tune with God. If He tells us to dig a very deep well, we
must do that. If He tells us to plant a garden, we must do that.  It
is going to be very important to be able to take daily instruction
from God.  Not to question, just do it.  I believe, God is even now
setting up places of refuge for Christians.

    The "...hurt not the oil and the wine." in V-6, in my opinion, has
to do with Spirit-filled Christians.  Oil and wine are symbolic of the
Holy Spirit of God.

    There is a great deal of difference in accepting Jesus as your
Savior and accepting Jesus as your Lord.  When He is Lord, He is
totally in control, and we follow His instructions without
questioning. The only thing required of us, for Jesus to be our
Savior, is for us to believe. For Jesus to be our Lord, we no longer
make our own decisions. He makes them for us. It is so much easier
when He is Lord.

    I cannot stress enough, that this famine is not just physical but
spiritual, as well. During this time, I believe, that many churches
will teach false doctrines. Even now there is a terrible famine of
truth in the church. Never before have so many denied: the virgin
birth of Christ, the Red Sea parted, Jonah being swallowed by the
large fish, God as Father.   Jesus is God with us, "Emmanuel",

    Many churches are ordaining homosexuals to preach.
    Secular Humanism makes man a god.

    How much more famine of the Spirit can we take?  Truly there will
be a physical famine, as well.  Stay tuned to the voice of God.  He
will see you through it all.

    Additional scriptures to study are Daniel 9:24-27, Isaiah 2:12,
Isaiah 13:6-9, Jeremiah 46:10, Joel 2:1-11, Amos 5:20.
    Memorize Isaiah 1:18 and Matthew 10:34.


                      REVELATION QUESTIONS 15


1.  Who said come and see?
2.  Who is the Lamb?
3.  What is He able to do that no man can do?
4.  What, throughout the Bible, was mistaken for thunder?
5.  What two things will we see in the opening of this first seal?
6.  Why does the author not believe the first rider to be antichrist?
7.  What does white mean?
8.  The rider of the first horse had?
9.  What was given unto Him?
10. What did He go forth to do?
11. We know the Bible is spoken of as --  --- -------- ---------.
12. We are told in the Bible -------- and ------- are in constant
    conflict.
13. In Habakkuk 3:9, the bow is called?
14. What did a Roman soldier do that proclaimed victory of a battle?
15. What three spiritual meanings of white are throughout the Bible?
16. Five things spoken of as white are?
17. Who was the greatest conqueror who ever lived?
18. What two things did He conquer?
19. The armies following Jesus will ride what color horse?
20. What color was the second horse?
21. What kind of power did he have?
22. What weapon did he have?
23. What does the red horse mean?
24. What, besides, war does it mean?
25. In Zech. 6 the four horses are?
26. Jesus said he came not to bring --------- but a --------.
27. The word translated sword in V-4 is what kind of sword?
28. What argument does this strengthen?
29. What color was the third horse?
30. The rider had what in his hand?
31. Spiritually the black horse means?
32. What does black symbolize?
33. Name two kinds of famine.
34. What does the balance indicate?
35. What will cause crop failures?
36. Name two saved IN their problems?
37. What was the pay for a day's work?
38. What could be bought for this amount in V-6 of Revelation?
39. Besides Jesus being our Savior, what must He be to us?
40. What is oil and wine symbolic of?
41. Write Isaiah 1:18.
42. Write Matthew 10:34.
43. What is the most difficult thing in your life to overcome? How do
    you plan to overcome it?