Revelation 6:7

And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come. And I saw and behold, a pale horse: and he that sat upon him, his name was Death; and Hades followed with him. And there was given unto them authority over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

It is wrong to read of these continuing scourges of war, famine, and disease as if they were, in any sense, unlimited. The oil and wine were not to be hurt under the black horse, and in the case of the pale horse, even the extensive arsenal of destructive weapons could not give him any authority over anything beyond "the fourth part of the earth." Thus, God's merciful providence for mankind is plainly evident in these awful calamities. Some have been perplexed that God would permit such a thing as the disasters depicted under the last three of these horsemen. Caird thought that, "We may be pardoned for asking whether the Lamb who lets such horrors loose on the world is really the same person as the Jesus of the gospel story."[29] A comment like that is grounded in blindness to the great mercy of God evident even in these four judgments; and also, there is a blindness to the truth that it was not the Lamb who let loose the horrors - that epic mistake belongs to Adam and his posterity. Man, having rebelled against his Creator and being expelled from the Paradise of God, may thank only himself for the manifold miseries which drown the world in sorrows. The progression of these visions is one that exhibits the following: (1) God permits people to continue the enjoyment of freedom of their will. God will not procure obedience through coercion. (2) The progression of disastrous human calamities is not permitted to ravage without limitation, but each of them is limited, a fact that will often recur in subsequent visions. (3) Nor are these terrible riders permitted to go alone. At the head of the van is the white horse with its crowned rider; and all of the others "following" him means that they are not permitted to destroy except under the rules of divine restraint. Moreover, that first rider carries the news of the everlasting gospel, capable of saving all who were ever born on earth. It has the double quality, however, of making even worse those who hear it and reject it, a quality which fully entitles the Rider of the first seal to take his place with the other "judgments" upon mankind, indeed not as their equal, but as their king and leader. For "Neither does the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son" (John 5:22).

The above analysis of these four riders absolutely requires that the first be understood as the Lord Jesus Christ. The denial of this can lead to exactly the kind of pessimism mentioned by Caird.

"The futurist interpretation holds that these seals refer to terrible judgments upon humanity at the end of this age."[30] However, such an explanation leaves out of sight the undeniable truth that every morning's newspaper carries the account of what these ravaging horsemen are doing, not at some future time, but right now all over the world.

Kill with the sword ... "No significance should be attached to John's choice of a different word for 'sword,' from that in 5:4. The two words are synonyms."[31]

There is a remarkable similarity in these symbols. The sword is a feature of the second and fourth; and famine is prominent in the third and fourth, the latter being the most terrible, displaying the powers, not only of the second and third (sword and famine), but also the dimension of death by wild beasts. The very personification of the grave itself attends the rider of the pale horse. Significantly, there is no suggestion of any identity in the fourth with the white horse and its rider, indicating emphatically that there is a fundamental difference between the first symbol and the three following.

There would appear to be also a progression of some kind in the last three. War, as bad as it is, affects relatively minor proportions of the earth's peoples. Famine, which, in many instances, attends war and is a resulting consequence of war, is a far more extensive destroyer; and the combined elements of destruction evident in the fourth go far beyond the devastation of both the others put together.

How long do these three ravaging horsemen operate? There is nothing in the text to suggest that they shall ever cease until the Second Advent. They are represented as proceeding against mankind from an authority in heaven identified with the Throne himself; and not one of them was pictured as returning prior to the sending of the others, or at any other time. The finding of successive ages or periods of history in these symbols is contrary to the known destruction represented by all three being operative throughout history. There is no historical period when any one of them may not be said to prevail.

The difficulty of understanding Christ as the rider of the first horse, or rather the whole symbol as a figure of Christ, is admittedly present; but the failure to do so is a far greater difficulty. From the beginning, it has been pointed out that "judgment" is the theme of Revelation (Revelation 1:7); and the very fact of there being "four" of these symbols grouped together adds to their identification as judgments upon mankind. As Roberson pointed out:

Three being the divine number takes precedence when the fortunes of the church are under consideration, and four being the number of the world takes the lead when judgments on the world are described.[32]

We have noted this phenomenon before, and it will recur again. The inclusion of Christ himself as a participant in this judgment series is not merely in keeping with his character as judge of all mankind, but also with the whole purpose of Revelation. And how is Christ, throughout this dispensation, judging the world? The answer: from his throne in heaven (Matthew 19:28), by the preaching of the gospel of Christ in all nations through his followers, and by the witness of the church, his spiritual body. The gospel judges all who hear it. Most significantly, no bad result of any kind was indicated in the progression of the throned rider on the white horse! As Lenski said: "Those who think of Christ or Christianity here are not far wrong."[33] But does not preaching the gospel refer to the church? In the context here, it refers to the impact of the gospel upon unbelievers, to whom the gospel is also preached; and the fact of their unbelief results in its being an adverse judgment of themselves.

[29] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 82.

[30] Ralph Earle, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 543.

[31] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 156.

[32] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 41.

[33] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 221.