The Third Key in the previous section of The Prophets Speak concluded that the four Living Creatures should relate in some way to the Times of the Gentiles. Were it not for this finding and the fact that they subsequently administer Seals 1-4, we would have no clue how to start unraveling the mystery of the contents of the Scroll. However, since (Revelation 1-3) already addressed the subject of the Seven Churches throughout the Church Age, we must now try to discover some other aspect of this same period to explain Seals 1-4.

We would not expect Seals 1-4 of the Revelation to deal with secular history in general through New Testament times, but rather with some aspect of that history that had a significant impact on God's Redemptive Plan for his people. Certainly among all such topics, a discussion of the religion of Christianity, i.e. Christendom, would have to be placed at the top of the list of major happenings since Messiah's first coming. Undoubtedly only a fraction of those hundreds of millions of adherents to Christendom have been true born-from-above believers depicted by the Seven Churches, nonetheless Christendom has had a powerful influence on the social, economic, political, and even military fabric of world history over the past 1900 years. In fact, a presentation of prophetic history since the first century, apart from Christendom's worldwide impact on it, is arguably incomplete.

Consequently, our first step toward finding a possible meaning for the four horses of Seals 1-4 is to consider, not the narrower scope of the Church per se, but rather how historic Christianity impacted the world scene through New Testament times. In this light, consider how the four horses of Seals 1-4 may be correlated with the following four major periods of world/Christian history.

The first six centuries of world history was dominated by the mighty Roman Empire, the greatest and last of the ancient world. But from the first century, the Christian religion spread rapidly through the then civilized world. At first this occurred in spite of intense opposition from Rome, but in time, Christendom made inroads into the Roman social/political/military orders. Finally, military campaigns were led by the Emperor Constantine under the banner of Christ. Then under Theodosius I, Christianity became the only religion officially recognized within the Empire. By the time of Rome's decline and fall in the sixth century, Christianity had become the principal religion in the civilized world. It had infused the philosophies, arts, sciences, and minds of the people during those times.

SEAL 1: THE "WHITE HORSE"

(Revelation 6.1-2) 1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and behold, a white horse.  2 And he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. NKJV

It is very difficult to find even a few points of agreement among Bible expositors about the meaning of these Seals. However, the following statements can safely be made about Seal 1.

• A "white horse" symbolized conquest and victory in Biblical times.

• A "bow" is used several places in the Old Testament to signify authority or privilege, e.g. (Jeremiah 51.56, Hosea 1.5, and Psalm 46.9).

• This particular crown, "Stephanos", was used to denote victory, worth, valor, joy, or gladness. For example, it was the type of crown placed on Jesus, promised to believers, and seen on the righteous woman in (Revelation 12), used typically in a good sense. It is different from the crown, "diadema", that denotes conquest by force, where it is seen both on the beast with seven heads (Revelation 13.1), and the "Word" when Jesus Christ returns to Judge the nations (Revelation 19.12).

• The phrase "conquering and to conquer" uses the word that is generally translated, "overcome", and refers to such New Testament topics as the overcoming work of Christ in putting away sin, or the believers steadfastness even unto death.

Certainly, Christianity was given the authority or privilege to overcome the world during the first six centuries of its existence, though it was not accomplished by military force, but by the  changing of the minds of its adversaries. Therefore, the association of Seal 1 with Christianity during the first six centuries of its existence appears to be in harmony with the meaning of the words used to describe that Seal.

During the period after the fall of the Roman Empire, the world entered a period now termed the Middle or Dark Ages. It was a time that produced the Christian motivated Crusades, one of the most disgraceful spectacles of supposed religious zeal ever directed against peoples of other faiths. It was a period of disorder and feudalism in which centralized authorities disintegrated. The Christian world of that period broke up into tribes and serfdoms, engaging in internecine conflicts among one another. Even after the Roman Catholic Church rose to prominence, there were still no centralized power establishments to bring unified law and order to Europe, so warring serfdoms and barbaric factions continued to operate under a system of feudalism. Even the Byzantine Empire had only a weak central government and suffered many internal conflicts, so that its lack of cohesion eventually led to its downfall.

Christian history during the period of the Middle Ages is well described in the following manner.

SEAL 2: THE "RED HORSE"

(Revelation 6.3-4) 3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, 'Come and see'.  4 And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another, and there was given to him a great sword. NKJV

Unquestionably, the color "red" speaks of war and bloodshed. This red horse represents a time of turmoil, disorder, and outright war. Once again, the definitions of certain words are supportive of this meaning.

• The phrase "that people should kill one another" carries the meaning of war and death among a certain group of people.

• The word "sword" conveys the idea of physical violence.

Under the assumption that Seals 1-4 depict Christendom during New Testament times, Seal 2 should be descriptive of this period of the Middle Ages, a time when Christendom was at war within and without. Certainly this interpretation appears to be in harmony with the Biblical definitions of the words used to depict Seal 2.

As the Middle Ages faded around the 15th century, new world orders moved to the forefront. One of these was the rise of nationalism, driven by a desire to move away from the monopolistic and autocratic role that Christianity had imposed during the Middle Ages. The other was the rise of capitalism with its explosion of commerce and trade among the nations. This produced many dichotomies such as rapid increases in wages for some working classes, the creation of a privileged wealthy class, but also a large destitute population of peasants. Although there were socialist movements to counter capitalism, nations and ruling classes prospered more and more in a world system increasingly preoccupied with materialistic gain. Christendom itself embraced this materialistically centered philosophy, becoming guilty of investing in land and opulent churches, built on the backs of down-trodden peasants.

Here is one synopsis of this period of world history from an historian.

SEAL 3: THE "BLACK HORSE"

One Bible commentary describes the "Black Horse" in the following way.

So according to Hindson and Kroll, Seal 3 describes a period of simultaneous economic opulence and depravity, a description in harmony with the historic facts about Christendom during the period of the Commercial Revelation following the Middle Ages.

Following the French Revolution of 1789 and the rise and fall of Napoleon, the age of modern nations founded on constitutional governments began to take form. Technological advances began to fuel a dramatic upsurge of trade and commerce among the nations of the world. Only a few nations within the Christian world, e.g. Russia, Austria, and Germany, retained absolute monarchies. As technology developed and nations became stronger during the l800's, nations like Germany and Italy became strongly nationalistic with driving ambitions for world leadership. Oddly, these initiatives were taken by nations supposedly having deep roots in Christianity. Yet if one were required to summarize in a short statement the most horrendous events that occurred in the world from the 19th century through the first half of the 20th, it is certain that World Wars I & II would have to be at the top of the list. Those two wars did more to shape the destinies of peoples, nations, religions, and even the future of Israel, than all of the other events during the entire history of the New Testament world up to those events.

That culminating epoch of death and destruction is epitomized by the following historian, and may be studied in more detail in the previous section on World War II.

SEAL 4: THE "PALE HORSE"

The introduction of the "Pale Horse" upon the scene of world events is foreboding, for the names of the riders themselves are "Death" and "Hades". Here are the definitions of certain words and phrases used in connection with this Seal.

• The word "pale" is always rendered "green" everywhere else in the New Testament, thus it would refer to something that is unripe, not ready for the harvest.

• "Death" refers to the grave, and "Hades" to the abode of departed souls.

• "Power" given to these principalities refers to authority.

• "Over the fourth part of the earth" is explained by the following commentator.

• "To kill with sword, hunger, death", pictures physical conflict of the most intense type.

• "And by the beasts of the earth", could refer literally to wild animals, or metaphorically to brutal bestial men who kill savagely and ferociously. For example, nations and empires are referred to prophetically as "beasts" in the Old Testament (Daniel 7.15-28).

The prophetic imagery of Seal 4 may be applied to World Wars I & II in a very special way.

• Just as the "pale", i.e. green, horse represents something that is not yet ripe, World War II was the "Great Tribulation", ending in a Jubilee year, and having all the appearances of the event that would lead to Messiah's second coming. However, it occurred over 50 years prior to that time, for His return was not yet "ripe", and the final "harvest" not yet ready. World War II served only as the catalyst to return the Jews back to their Promised Land.

• Notice that there is only one horse but two riders. Indeed, this is accurate because World Wars I & II were perpetrated by one nation, Germany. World War I could properly be named "death" being the worst war of all time up to that point in history. However, World War II paled that first World War into comparative obscurity, not only by its scope and magnitude, but also by its cruel, barbaric character. Moreover, those responsible for World War II conducted a premeditated attack on God's Chosen People, thereby adding a spiritual component to this carnage (Hades), and setting for themselves the expectation of a coming Judgement of the worst kind for those blasphemies against God Himself.

• Although World War II may well be charged against one person, Adolph Hitler, he was not able to carry it out until the appointed time. He was given "authority" for its execution at a time precisely right to accomplish the remainder of Israel's Redemptive Plan.

• As to its scope and intensity, it was certainly the worst of all wars ever fought by mankind. If the word "beasts" may be taken prophetically, its bestiality was carried out by nearly all of the nations on earth.

The connections just made between these New Testament times and Seals 1-4 have paid close attention to both the definitions of words and character of each of the four horses. Though it is evident that a positive correlation is achieved between the four major world/Christian historic eras and the four horses, yet the very brief description available with each of the horses gives rise to a lingering doubt about its correctness. Indeed, an objective reader will probably still question the result, if for no other reason than the existence within prophetic literature of such a vast number of conflicting interpretations ascribed to these four horses. There is perhaps no other set of scriptures in the entire Bible that have been the "playground" for so many books by students of prophecy. In fact, the above quote by Hinson & Kroll, as it pertained to Seal 3, was taken out of context, because they used that quote to defend their own position that Seal 3 is apocalyptic. Clearly something more is needed to confirm that Seals 1-4 do indeed refer to this historic New Testament period as the earlier concordant texts require. Fortunately, the Bible itself offers such confirmation, as will now be seen.

The Third Key to unlocking the Revelation in the previous section postulated that the Living Creatures should be related to the period between the first century arrival of the Covenant of Grace and Israel's 1948 rebirth in the Promise Land. If true, those faces should provide important information regarding that period. 

• From that discussion, we learned that Israel's Redemptive Timeline places the New Testament Covenant-to-Kingdom period in correspondence with the Old Testament Covenant-to-Kingdom period described in Joshua and Judges.
  
  The reality of that correspondence may be seen quickly by comparing that Old Testament Tribal period with the New Testament Covenant-to-Kingdom period in the following chart:

• In addition, we also learned that the faces of the Living Creatures can be related to the four principal Tribes of Israel.
  
  The previous chart shows that there is much similarity between the Old Testament times of Joshua and Judges, and the New Testament Covenant-to-Kingdom period. Since the individual Tribes of Israel are described in detail only in those books, a question comes to mind. If the activities and character of those four principal Tribes were studied in the order of the faces of the Living Creatures, would there be found a chronological correlation between them and the corresponding New Testament period? To help answer this question, it is necessary to know what the Bible says about each of these principal Tribes.

1. THE FACE OF THE FIRST "LIVING CREATURE"--- A "LION"
   
   The "Lion" was the ensign of Judah, and their hallmark was conquest and victory over the Gentiles after they entered the Promised Land.
   
   After the death of Joshua, the Israelites inquired of the Lord which Tribe should initially lead the attack upon the Canaanites. The Lord responded that it should be the Tribe of Judah. The men of Judah assaulted Jerusalem and destroyed it. Then they turned South to fight the Canaanites of the southern hill country. The Lord was with Judah as they continued their conquest of portions of Canaan for they obeyed His commandment that the Tribes should completely drive out the Canaanites from the Land they were to occupy. Except for the House of Joseph, only Judah energetically obeyed that decree, so it was Judah that led the attack upon Canaan as Israel occupied the Promised Land over a period of about six years.
   
   Observe how Judah's victories in possessing the Promised Land during those early years parallel the victories of historic Christianity in "possessing" the world during the first six  centuries of the Roman Empire.
   

2. THE FACE OF THE SECOND "LIVING CREATURE" --- A "CALF/OX"
   
   Ephraim's ensign was a "Calf/Ox", and their label became infamous for the Tribe who instigated civil war, strife, and idolatry, as they abundantly displayed on three separate occasions.
   
   The first time was with Gideon after he had defeated the Midianites with only three-hundred men. Gideon, a Judge of Israel, had accomplished this feat under the direct authority and guidance of God. Yet the men of Ephraim maligned him for not including them when he went to fight against the Midianites, as they felt proper because of their self-appointed patriarchal pre-eminence over the Tribes. Gideon adopted the role of peacemaker by downplaying his own feat and recalling their valor in defeating the princes of Midian, Oreb, and Zeeb. By such careful treatment, Gideon was finally able to cool their unjustified anger.
   
   Later this same feuding spirit resurfaced in another incident involving Jephthah, another one of the Judges. This occurred after Jephthah overcame the Ammonites, again under the Lord's guidance and authority. Once more Ephraim's quarreling attitude surfaced, for they criticized him for not including them in the fight and spoils. Then they took the precipitous step of threatening to burn his house for this alleged affront against their patriarchal privilege. Jephthah tried to defend his action by reminding the Ephraimites that he had asked them to help him once before but they had refused, forcing him to fight the Ammonites alone. However, this did not quell their contentious spirit, and they started a civil war with Jephthah and his followers, forcing the Israelites of Gilead to fight against Ephraim, until forty-two thousand Ephraimites had been killed.
   
   Much later in Israel's history, Ephraim's desire for pre-eminence finally led to a permanent division of the kingdom under Jeroboam. That act brought God's condemnation on the Northern Kingdom, often referred to as "Ephraim".
   
   Observe how Ephraim's character of internecine strife among the Tribes of Israel also became the character of historic Christianity during the 6th-15th centuries of the Middle Ages.
   

3. THE FACE OF THE THIRD "LIVING CREATURE" --- A "MAN"

The ensign of the Tribe of Reuben was of a "Man", surely apropos of their inner nature, because their true heart was disclosed when they opted for material gain and personal comfort and safety, ahead of the inheritance God had given them.

Their story is a very interesting one. The principal Tribe of Reuben, along with Gad and half the Tribe of Manasseh, requested of Moses that they be permitted to settle on the east side of the Jordan river, outside of the Promised Land. They made this request because they had large flocks, and the land of Jazer and Gilead East of the Jordan was good grazing country. At first Moses was angered, because this request smacked of the same thing their fathers had done when they refused to occupy Canaan and were left to wander forty years in the wilderness . Still they persisted, offering to first fight for the Land with their brethren, if they could but later return to the Gileads to build sheepfolds and towns for their people. They further agreed to claim no share of the Land with the other Tribes who would live in the Promised Land over the Jordan, because their inheritance would be allotted to the East of it. Moses finally relented and agreed to this disposition of land. 

Thus in effect, the Tribe of Reuben set their priorities for things of this world higher than their priorities for God's inheritance. Canaan was the Land promised to them by God, and they rejected it for the potential comfort and wealth of another "inheritance".

Observe how Reuben's character of placing material gain over the things of God was also reflected in the character of historic Christianity during the 15th-19th centuries of the Commercial Revolution, when Christendom sought the comforts of worldly gain over the things of real spiritual value.

4. THE FACE OF THE FOURTH "LIVING CREATURE" --- AN "EAGLE"

Dan carried the ensign of a flying "Eagle", but their story was one of greed, war, and idolatry, as they were unwilling to trust God for victory over the Land allotted them, but rather plundered an undefended Gentile city outside of their inheritance, then set up idolatrous religion in place of the Covenant given them by God.

The Danites, frustrated by their inability to possess that portion of the Land allocated to them in the coastal region of the Land, reconnoitered for other territory. They came upon a city in the northern region of Canaan near Mt. Hermon called Laish. It was inhabited by carefree, quiet folk, without any centralized government to maintain a standing military force. The Danites returned to their kinsmen, recommending that Laish be attacked as an easy plum for the taking. With a fighting force of 600 men they started for Laish. On the way they stopped at the house of a non-Israelite idol worshipper named Micah who they had visited earlier. This time they stole all of Micah's idols, then proceeded to Laish where they burned the city and put its citizens to the sword. Having successfully accomplished their ignoble objectives, they occupied the city, and set up Micah's idols for their own apostate worship. This remained their permanent residence until they themselves were finally destroyed by the Assyrians centuries later.

Observe how the greed and warlike character of the Danites was parroted by the greed and warlike character of so-called "Christianized" nations during the 19th-20th centuries.

 

 

We may then compare the character of Christendom through New Testament times in two independent ways, first with the four horses depicted in Seals 1-4 , and second with those Old Testament Tribes symbolized by the faces of the Living Creatures. 

Notice that when Seals 1-4 are juxtaposed against either historic Christianity, or the character of the four principal Tribes of Israel during the Covenant-to-kingdom period of Joshua and Judges, there are good matches. Since Israel's Redemptive Timeline also indicates a definite correspondence between the Old and New Testament Covenant-to-kingdom periods, we have two independent ways of associating Seals 1-4 with this New Testament period, and a basis for concluding that the Revelation is organized in the following way through the first four Seals.

• The Seven Churches describe the character of true (saved) Christianity throughout the period of the Times of the Gentiles.

• The "24 Elders" seen by John when he was first translated in the spirit to Heavenly realms depict all of the redeemed Gentiles who lived prior to New Testament times.

• The seven-sealed Scroll is presented to the "Lamb" following His victory over death at the advent of the Times of the Gentiles, therefore its Seals must span the entire period from the first century until His second return to Judge the nations.

• Therefore, Seals 1-4 must begin with the first century and describe the character of religious (unsaved) Christianity, i.e. Christendom, throughout the period from the coming of Messiah as Savior until  Israel's 1948 rebirth in the Land.

The organization of the Revelation indicated by this study so far appears to be much more all-inclusive of mankind than if it were restricted to Church Age believers only, for it appears to encompass those who have lived in all of God's previous economies. If this pattern is found to continue through the remaining Seals of the Revelation, with their amplifying interludes, the final result could well represent a "Title Deed" for the earth awarded to the Son of God, that ultimately includes all of God's redeemed for all time.

It is also becoming evident that the book of Revelation is inescapably linked to the Old Testament in so many ways that it cannot be understood without first gaining knowledge about how God's Redemptive Plan flowed through those early pages of the Bible. For example,

• It was not possible to identify the "24 Elders" without first studying the Old Testament genealogies, as well as the overall flow of God's Redemptive Plan as He used individuals like Boaz and Sheatiel to transition from Redemptive phase-to-phase.

• The identity of the four Living Creatures first required a study of the book of Numbers to learn how Israel's principal Tribes could be related to the faces of the Living Creatures, and from there to Isaiah to understand the significance of their faces being hidden until New Testament times.

• The significance of those Tribes in relation to the New Testament Covenant-to-Kingdom period made sense only after a detailed study of the books of Joshua and Judges was conducted to determine their character, and then only after it was also realized that Israel's Redemptive Timeline is folded in such a way as to cause Israel's history to possess repeatable patterns through history.

Relationships like these are revealing why the Revelation has been such an enigma over the years, and why its study has been so frustrating and unrewarding to so many. We have mistakenly tried to interpret those individual symbols within its contents in isolation, without realizing that they actually serve as links to scriptures elsewhere in the Bible, where their meanings will become clear.

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