Lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, along with living creatures, persons, and angels surround the One Who sits on the sovereign throne of the universe. They flood the realm of God with songs, praise, and worship. Indeed, all of heaven is cheering in approval, clamoring in applause, and roaring in acclamation because there is found One (and only One) Who is worthy to open the scroll—the scroll which was in the right hand of the Majesty on high and enfolds the final judgments of God on His creation. The One Who is found worthy is the Lamb—the Lion from the tribe of Judah... the Root of David... Jesus…
As the Lamb breaks each and every seal, we are compelled to imagine the tumultuous roar increasing—a deafening, impassioned crescendo which will neither waver nor dull, but will, instead, heighten until the very last ultimate judgment is unleashed… The ovation is thunderous… so much so that our ears are deafened… and so we watch, not even daring to blink…
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come”. Revelation 6:7
When the Lamb breaks the fourth seal, the fourth creature (the one like a flying eagle) says, “Come”.
I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Revelation 6:8
Who or what comes? An ashen horse carrying a rider named Death—they are followed by Hades. Evidently people are dying in great numbers all over the world. The phrase “green behind the gills” comes from looking ashen, so it seems the color ashen is like an icky green. Hades was following close behind the rider of the ashen horse, Death. Death and Hades are a matched set. Where Death goes, Hades follows.
Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:8
Authority was given to them (not just Death) to kill over a fourth of the earth! Notice that it was given. Remember that God is in control of all things… all the time. He will be in no less control when He sends His final judgments.
How will the judgment of the ashen horse be executed? One fourth of the people of the earth will be killed through four means: sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts of the earth. The coming fourth seal judgment will not only kill a greater number on the earth than the Great Famine or the Black Death did, but the cause of death will be different. It will be driven by sword and the wild beasts of the earth in addition to famine and pestilence. Frightfully, the intensity of the coming judgment will cause even history’s tragic events to pale in comparison.
This brings up an interesting thought. There is going to be an escalation of wild beasts killing people. Right now, being killed by a wild beast would not be on most people’s top 10 list of things to worry about, don’t you agree? But, at some time in the future, wild beasts will be a major cause of death—one of the four factors that will kill one-fourth of the earth!
I’m going to ask you a question. Has this fourth seal happened yet? How many people are killed? One fourth of the earth! Has there been a time that a fourth of the earth has been killed? No. Everyone knows that has never happened. (Well, except when God sent the Noahic flood, of course.) The only time that has even come close was during the 1,300’s when the Great Famine and the Black Death took the lives of so many people (although mainly in Europe). It was a horrific time and was mostly due to famine and pestilence.
Consider the first three seal judgments. If a person wanted to, could he make a case to say that these three things have happened? Yes, there have been world leaders, there have been wars, and there have been shortages in food. Someone could probably make a case to say that those events may have happened, but I think as we observe the book of Revelation further you will see that past world events have not happened to the intensity that the seal judgments will happen.
I make this point because there is some teaching (erroneous) that Christ has already broken the seals on the scroll and that these judgments are now taking place. Without a shadow of a doubt they have not started. The Lamb has not taken that scroll. Not yet. Christ has not broken even seal number one.
There are many reasons which totally dismantle a doctrine which teaches that the judgments of the scroll have already started—including the fact that the church is still around, and the fact that once the Lamb breaks the seals these judgments will take place quickly—like dominoes falling. However… are there more and more rumors of war and more and more famines in the world than in the past? Could these be birth pangs that are happening now? Yes, we can most certainly see the building, or escalating, that could very well be directly leading up to the greater intensity that is shown in the seal judgments.
Things are going to change on this earth… it will be horrible… and when the change begins, it will happen quickly… just like dominoes falling… one after another after another… there will be no stopping them…
