The Pale Horse And Its Rider

The story is not yet completely told. Jesus opens the fourth seal, and John tells us the result: " And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth living creature say: "Come!' " (Revelation 6:7) This is the voice of the cherub that resembles a flying eagle. Farsighted wisdom is indicated and truly John, the John class, and all other earthly servants of God have needed to observe and act with insight in view of what is here depicted. So doing, we may find a measure of protection from the scourges that plague the worldly-wise of today's proud, immoral generation. -1 Corinthians 1:20, 21.

What new horrors are unleashed, then,as the fourth horseman responds to the call? John tells us: "And I saw, and look! a pale horse; and the one seated upon it had the name Death. And Hades was following close behind him." (Revelation 6:8a) The rider of the last horse has a name: Death. He is the only one of the four horsemen of Apocalypse to reveal his identity so directly. Fittingly, Death rides a horse that is pale, since the word pale (Greek, khlo-ros) is used in Greek literature to describe faces that are blanched, as if by disease. Also fittingly, Death is closely followed in some unexplained manner by Hades (gravedom), since Hades receives to itself the greater number of those who fall victim to the ravages of the fourth horseman. Happily, for these there will be a resurrection, when 'death and hades give up those dead in them.' (Revelation 20:13) But how does Death claim those victims?

The vision enumerates some of the ways: "And authority was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth." (Revelation 6:8b) Not necessarily a literal fourth of earth's population but a large portion of the earth, whether densely or sparsely inhabited, would be affected by this ride. This horseman reaps the victims of the big sword of the second horseman and the famines and food shortages of the third. He reaps his own harvest, too, from deadly plague and also a harvest from the earthquakes, as described by Luke 21:10, 11.

Of current importance here is 'deadly plague." Following in the wake of the ravages of World WarI, the Spanish flu reaped over 20 million human lives in just a few months of 1918-19. The only territory on earth to escape this scourge was the small island of St. Helena. In places where the population was decimated, funeral pyres were lit to burn the piles of bodies. And today there is the frightful incidence of heart disease and cancer, much of which is caused by tobacco pollution. In what has been described as "the ugly decade" of the 1980's, a way of life that is lawless by Bible standards has added the scourge of AIDS to the "deadly plague." At the same of this writing, all who contract this disease die, and it is estimated that in the United States alone 270,000 will be sick with AIDS by 1991; millions appear to be doomed in a Africa. How thankful Jehovah's people are that the wise counsel of his Word keeps them away from fornication and misuse of blood, through which so many diseases are transmitted today!- Acts 15:28, 29; compare 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

Next time: Continue with the above subject.