The four horsemen of the Apocalypse is one of the most intriguing tales of the Bible. Each rider of the horse brings about a plague that is designed to make it difficult for men. Prideful men. Things to humble men down from their self-imposed pedestals. Men, fools and teachers alike wonder aloud “why would a good God let this happen?” The answer is beyond their comprehension at least at this point in this age’s history. At the blowing of the seventh trump, they will have their answer. All of God’s mysteries will be revealed and the spirit of slumber upon them will be lifted. Until then, it is not for anyone but the election of grace to know. They do not have the spirit of slumber. I will say this though, our souls are much older than our bodies. This Earth despite what your teachers have told you is much older than several thousand years old. This age is several thousand years old. Not the world. If you trace what is written in the NT back to the original Greek, you would see that this is an age we’re living in. There will be another age after this one. That's where Jesus reigns upon Earth with his saints while Satan is in the bottomless pit. Being that our souls are much older than our human bodies, there are things our creation may have done beforehand that God found disgraceful. Just because we are not allowed to remember, it doesn't mean it never happened. That’s how God chose certain people to be his prophets. As God told Jeremiah, “I knew you before you were in your mother’s womb”. There must have been a reason why God chose Jeremiah and other prophets to be His prophets. God would not create a soul and say at random “okay, you’re going to be my prophet”. God didn't send one of these prophets to live at random either. They all had their own time to be put here in this sinful, human flesh to serve God by guiding men to Him. There are things at work here that will be revealed, perhaps in this very generation itself. The tribulation period is the culmination of this age.

The rider of the first horse of the Apocalypse is riding a white horse. His power was to be able to conquer much of Earth. The color of the horse being white is significant because this is the Antichrist who will be as Christ coming in riding on a white horse. The Antichrist will conquer the world to be his one world government. We’re closer to that now than anyone might think. With the recent economic collapses revealing the vulnerabilities of the global economy, it goes to show our economies are already tied to one another. With Obama's rise to power and the adoration he's received from the spiritually empty, that also goes to show how vulnerable people are to following someone with some charisma. The Antichrist will have much more charisma than Obama and won't need to use the words "hope, change, shooting stars, purple horseshoes, rainbows, and lucky charms" to inspire the masses. The cult of the spiritual empty who look down on religion and religious people have proven that they are very receptive to having a god, too.

The rider of the red horse is next, and his power was to take peace from the Earth. Again, we’re right at the door of this possibly happening. Iran is close to having a nuclear bomb to which Israel cannot let them have. Israel as they have done in times past will see to it that this does not come to pass. Iran has the backing of many countries which are not coincidentally the same countries listed as the ones written in the Bible that will come against Israel. The Arab World, Russia, China, and others will be among these nations. Right now a snapping of a twig can send this world into a world war. Even nonbelievers can see this as a possibility. You have the situation inside Iran, the tensions between Iran and Israel, India and Pakistan, North Korea and nearly everyone else. One casted stone can send this entire world into war.

The rider of the black horse is more difficult to understand than the others. He was given a pair of balances. There was a voice that said “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.” As most know, this is a plague on the economy. What is a bit of a mystery is how specific this plague really is and it goes to show how subtle some of God’s words really are. One part is that the oil and the wine aren’t actually oil and wine at all. If there is a great plague upon the economy, of course oil and wine would be hurt. There is no way oil or wine itself won't be hurt in a bad economy, so you have to ask yourself what that must mean. What do you do with oil besides cook with it? You anoint with it. Wine is fermented grape juice, but during fermentation impurities come out of the grape juice. Wine is pure and fermented grape juice. What that really says is “don’t hurt the anointed and the pure”. To prove this contention, Psalm 105:15 says “touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” Exactly what my interpretation of Revelation 4:6 is. It’s either that or that the price of oil and wine will not go up when everything else does. You be the judge. Two, specifically one measure of wheat and three measures of barley make up a good sized loaf of bread. You can make two decent sized loaves of bread. It says that each a measure of wheat and three measures of barley are a penny. What is a penny according to what is written? The answer is in Matthew chapter 20. Just about all of that chapter is a parable from Christ which means that it doesn’t matter when a person comes to Christ in their life. That they will receive the same things a person will receive if they came to Christ early in their lives. Hidden in that parable is what a penny is. The man who owned the land offered men to work in his field a penny for a day’s work. That seems so innocent there and one would just blow by it except for one of the elect. A penny represents a lower class working man’s daily wage. This clarifies the economic plague of the black horse making it mean it would take a blue collar working man’s daily wage to be able to buy a loaf or so of bread. If that seems far-fetched as how there could be a plague so strong, one must be a student of history. In Russia shortly before and after communism fell, people lined up in the streets to pay $20 for a loaf of bread. I remember bread being mentioned specifically in those old news stories. This will be a plague of great economic woe and will give power to the one who has “the solution”.

The rider of the last horse rides a pale horse. The worst of all of the horsemen. The rider of the pale horse had Hell follow with him. His name was Death. This is no longer the Antichrist as a human being anymore, but Satan being kicked down to Earth himself. Halfway through the tribulation period, the Antichrist will die. He will seemingly rise again, but this time what this world will see is not a human being with the spirit of Satan inside him. It will be Satan himself in the flesh. Satan is Death, and Hell will follow him. Satan will make war with Israel and the nations aligned with Israel. War, hunger, and pestilences will kill a fourth part of the Earth. Pestilence isn’t written there specifically, but among the things described by Jesus in Matthew 24 and other gospels when he describes the end times says that there will be many pestilences. We’ve had SARS, swine flu, and the bird flu threaten to take many people for the last several years now. An outbreak of either or something new would do great damage. AIDS already has taken many, and continues to be the biggest threat to the people of Africa.

These plagues are frightening to say the least, but if this is the generation to see it then it has a lot of work to do. This is the most selfish and lost generation in this age’s history. So many do not believe and belittle things that are of God. Many who do believe don’t fully believe what is written. “It’s all in the interpretation” I’ve heard many times. That’s such a lazy thought to have. Of course it’s in the interpretation, but God’s word is GOD’S WORD. Not man’s. Trace things back to the original languages of Hebrew and Greek. Those are God’s words written in its original form. The King James is man’s translation of God’s word. As good as it is, there are mistranslations. Read it with a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance which will trace back for you what is originally written in the Hebrew for the OT and the Greek for the NT. People will survive to the end, then among them they will be divided to the left and right of Jesus. The faithful from those who made the wrong choice. Get ready. Prepare yourselves. We are at the door.