Who and What Are the 4 Horsemen from the Book of Revelation

Now we come to chapter six. And I will simply give you the Prince version. You don’t have to believe it, but I believe that God has made this real to me.

First of all, there are the four horsemen. We read about each of them. Verses one and two of chapter six:

“Now when the Lamb opened one of the seals, I heard one of the four living creatures say with a loud voice like thunder, ‘Come.’”

And I want to point out to you right at the beginning that every one of these horsemen were commanded from heaven. They’re not the result of things that happened on Earth. The initiative came from God. You need to know that.

“And I looked, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him.”

That’s not a royal crown, but the wreath of a conqueror in the games, like the gold medal in today’s Olympic Games.

“And he went out conquering and to conquer.”

Now, a lot depends on how you identify that white horse. But I’ll say personally, for me, over the years, it has become so vivid that the white horse is Jesus Christ riding out through the gospel to all the Earth. And I’d like to give you just one passage from Psalm 45, which I think ties in with that.

Psalm 45, the first few verses. This is what they call a Messianic Psalm. In other words, it’s a revelation of the Messiah. We’ll just read the first five verses. To me, this is a description of the one who rode on the white horse. He went out conquering and to conquer. He was undefeatable. There was no power on Earth that could defeat him. And the psalmist says,

“My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”

And then, speaking to this King,

“You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever.”

And notice again the “therefore.” There was a reason why God blessed Jesus because grace was on His lips. And if you want to be blessed, make sure that grace is on your lips, too.

“Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, With Your glory and Your majesty. And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness.”

Now, that’s no ordinary human conqueror, because they are not marked by truth, humility, and righteousness. This is a divine conqueror.

“And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies; The peoples fall under You.”

I believe those are the arrows of Holy Spirit conviction that can pierce human hearts and cause people to fall before Him.

Now, going back to chapter six, we come to the second horse.

“When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come!’”

And notice this creature also, this horse also was commanded from heaven. Most important you understand this, because otherwise you get a false perspective of what’s happening on Earth.

“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.”

I understand that to be ethnic conflict. Something released on Earth that makes people of one nation group attack and seek to destroy one another. And this is seen almost all around the globe today: in South Africa, North Africa, Israel, Yugoslavia, much of the former Soviet Union. And I predict that there will be no nation on Earth which will finally be spared from this. And I would ask you to consider what it would be like if that red horse began to ride through the United States, with so many different racial groups. We’ve seen a little of it between black and white, but I believe there is more to come. And I want to emphasize, this horse was ordered from heaven. It’s part of judgment. Remember, Revelation is, in part, a revelation of the judgment of Jesus.

The third horse, in verses five and six:

“When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales, or balances, in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.’”

Now, this black horse, to me, is a very obvious picture of shortage and rationing. And a denarius was a working man’s daily wage. So a working man at that time would get just enough money to feed himself. And then it says, “Do not harm the oil and the wine.” This is my personal understanding: the oil and the wine were reserved for the rich. And in the midst of the shortage, there were those who were living in luxury. And basically, that’s happening in the world today. The poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer. And with some wonderful exceptions, the rich do not care for the poor. They care for themselves. They’re gripped by that spirit of self-love.

Now we come to the fourth horse.

“When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come!’ And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

Now, that’s an obvious picture of famine and ensuing widespread death. And it says actually it would affect a fourth part of the Earth. There were two horses. The name of the rider on the first was Death. The second was Hades. Death claims the bodies of men. Hades claims the souls of men. And notice, authority was given to them. Where did the authority come? From God, from the throne.

Now, as I meditate on those four horses, there is one conviction that becomes stronger and stronger in me. And it’s a message for God’s people. The message is this: the white horse has to stay ahead of the other three horses. We have to get there with the offer of mercy through the gospel before these terrible judgments fall on people. And I think I can say that Ruth and I are motivated by a passion to see that white horse get there on time.