The Rider on a Pale
Horse
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Let's pray together before beginning this lesson:
Our Heavenly Father,
We humbly ask You to guide us in our study of Your prophetic Word, as we continue our
lessons about the seven seals.
May these lessons teach us to better love and serve You.
In the precious name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
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Revelation 4:1
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing
open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me,
saying,
«Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.»
Revelation 5:5
Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the
Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.
The opening of the seven seals, which Jesus made possible, reveals to us «things which must take place after this».
Let's study the fourth seal.
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Revelation 6:7
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the
fourth living creature saying, «Come and see.»
Revelation 4:7
The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
As we have seen in the preceding seals, each living creature introducing the
first three seals looks different one from the other.
Their appearance helped us to better understand the prophetic content of those seals.
So, what does this «flying eagle» mean?
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Daniel 7:25
He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall
persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.
To understand the symbolism of the flying eagle, let's remember our lesson «The Four Mythical Beasts», in which we saw that a
religio-political power, the «little horn», would persecute the people of God during the
Middle Ages, more precisely for «a time and times and half a time»,
that is, 1260 years.
Now, the fourth seal, which is parallel to the letter to the fourth church, Thyatira, also
covers the events of the Middle Ages.
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Revelation 12:6,14
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a
place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty
days. (...)
The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to
her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence
of the serpent.
This 1260 years' persecution is also reported in the book of Revelation,
symbolized by the serpent, Satan, attacking the pure woman, the Church of God.
By receiving two wings of an «eagle», the woman was able to
«fly into the wilderness».
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Revelation 4:7
The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
The flying eagle therefore carries a message of hope for the people of God.
In spite of the severe persecutions of the Middle Ages, the saints were able to rely upon
God to grant them the courage and strength they needed.
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Lamentations 4:19
Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains and lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
Matthew 24:28
For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be
gathered together.
But the flying eagle does more than simply carry a message of hope for
Christians.
It also announces a time of violent persecutions, a period marked by the slaughter of a
lot of believers, accurately describing what happened during the Middle Ages.
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The flying eagle is the symbol of a nation which hunts down and kills:
«The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar,
from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies.» (DEUTERONOMY 28:49)
«Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high? It dwells on the
rock, and resides on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the
prey; its eyes observe from afar. Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are,
there it is.» (JOB 39:27-30)
«Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. Their
chargers charge ahead; their cavalry comes from afar; they fly as the eagle that hastens
to eat.» (HABAKKUK 1:8)
«Now my days are swifter than a runner, they flee away, they see no good. They pass by
like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey.» (JOB 9:25,26)
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Revelation 6:7,8
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the
fourth living creature saying, «Come and see.»
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.
«Hades» is a Greek word meaning «the abode of the dead».
The content of the fourth seal thus confirms without a doubt that the period described is
really marked by persecution and death.
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Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse.
And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.
Habakkuk 2:5
Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud
man, and he does not stay at home.
Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied.
The «Death and Hades (hell)» of the fourth seal
describe very well the work of a «proud man».
What does that mean?
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Habakkuk 2:5
Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud
man, and he does not stay at home.
Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied.
Daniel 7:8
Another horn, a little one, (...) [had] a mouth speaking
pompous words.
Once again, the words of the fourth seal refer to the work of the little horn,
this proud power whose mouth speaks pompous words, the power which killed millions of
faithful believers during the Middle Ages.
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Habakkuk 2:5
Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like
death, and cannot be satisfied, he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself
all peoples.
Revelation 13:5,7,8
And he was given a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies (...).
And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. And all who dwell on the
earth will worship him.
As we will see in a future lesson, this Middle Ages power will come back in
force in the last days, deceiving all the nations.
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Revelation 6:8
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.
The fourth seal does not only describe the terrible persecution of the
believers during the Middle Ages. It also recalls the plagues which struck Europe during
this period.
The words «a fourth of the earth» indeed indicate that
those plagues hit only a part of the world.
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Revelation 2:18,22,23
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
«(...) Indeed I will cast [that woman Jezebel] into a sickbed, and those who commit
adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. And I will
kill her children with death.»
The letter to Thyatira also foretold the «great
tribulation» that Europe, steeped in apostasy, experienced during the Middle Ages.
After a great famine, the epidemic of bubonic plague killed 40% of the population of
Europe. Then the Hundred Years' War added to these scourges.
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Revelation 6:8
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.
Ezekiel 5:11
Surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all
your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you;
My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity.
The nature of these four plagues also indicates that they were linked to the
general apostasy of the Middle Ages.
Let's look at them one by one.
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Revelation 6:8
Power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to
kill with sword.
Ezekiel 33:2-4
When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the
land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword
coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the
sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his
blood shall be on his own head.
First the sword is sent to awaken the people who are in the process of
forgetting God...
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Ezekiel 33:4
Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not
take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head.
Revelation 2:18,21
And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
«(...) I gave [Jezebel] time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.»
As we have seen in our lesson about Thyatira, the Church of the Middle Ages was
called to repentance by many Christians torn by its apostasy. But it preferred to turn a
deaf ear.
Even worse, it killed many of them.
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Revelation 6:8
Power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to
kill (...) with hunger.
Matthew 4:4
[Jesus] answered and said,
«It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God."»
The famine announced under the third seal went on under the fourth seal.
As we have seen in our previous lesson, it was a spiritual famine, indicating the scarcity
of the Word of God, because of the general apostasy.
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Amos 8:11,12
«Behold, the days are coming,» says the Lord God,
«That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro,
seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.»
Under the fourth seal, false doctrines continued to invade the Church, at the
expense of biblical truth.
The progress of this apostasy had already been noticed in the letters to the churches of
Pergamos and Thyatira.
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Revelation 6:8
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.
Ezekiel 14:21
I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem - the sword
and famine and wild beasts and pestilence - to cut off man and beast from it.
The third plague is death.
By comparing this verse with another set of four plagues found in the word of God, we
notice that the word «death» can be replaced by the word «pestilence».
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Ezekiel 14:13,15,17,19
When a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness,
I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on
it (...).
If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and empty it, and make it so desolate
that no man may pass through because of the beasts, (...) or if I bring a sword on that
land, (...) or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it (...).
Ezekiel 5:17
So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and
they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the
sword against you.
The plague of the fourth seal indicated by the word «death»
is pestilence, that is, a virulent and fatal epidemic disease.
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Pestilence is added to sword and famine to punish apostasy:
«Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will
remember their iniquity now, and punish their sins. (...) When they fast, I will not hear
their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them.
But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.» (JEREMIAH
14:10,12)
«And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad (...), I will send the sword,
the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I
gave to them and their fathers.» (JEREMIAH 24:8,10)
«But they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.
(...) This city (...) shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the
sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.» (JEREMIAH 32:34,36)
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Revelation 6:8
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.
Jeremiah 21:7
I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants and
the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence and the sword and the
famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies,
and into the hand of those who seek their life.
The last plague of the fourth seal is «the beasts of the
earth».
By comparing this list with other sets of plagues in the Bible, we notice that wild beasts
represent warlike nations.
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Daniel 7:23
The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,
which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth.
Daniel 8:20,21
The ram which you saw, having the two horns - they are
the kings of Media and Persia.
And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece.
In Bible prophecy, beasts symbolize nations, political powers.
So, the beasts of the earth contained in the fourth seal announce many deadly wars during
the Middle Ages.
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Pestilence, beasts, sword, famine: the four plagues punishing apostasy.
«If you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these
commandments, (...) I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you,
wasting disease and fever (...).
Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey me, I will bring on you
seven times more plagues, according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you,
which shall rob you of your children (...).
And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also
will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will
bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of My covenant (...).
And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk
contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. You
shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters.»
(LEVITICUS 26:14,16,21-25,27-29)
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Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of
him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.
Revelation 20:13,14
Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.
And they were judged, each one according to his works.
Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Let's end this lesson on a hopeful note and talk about good news: death and
Hades, that is, the abode of the death, will soon be destroyed!
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Revelation 1:18
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore. Amen.
And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
Hosea 13:14
I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will
redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction!
Jesus overcame death.
Even more, He wants to share with us this victory over death and the grave, and offers us
eternal life.
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Persecution, suffering and death will soon disappear forever!
«One of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are
these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?"
And I said to him, "Sir, you know."
So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.
And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.
They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor
any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them
to living fountains of waters.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."» (REVELATION 7:13-17)
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Let's pray together:
Our God,
It is written: «Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? (...) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities
nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other
created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.» (Romans 8:35,38,39)
May the assurance of the apostle Paul be ours, in all circumstances, until the glorious
return of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
In His name we pray.
Amen.
Source of the Pictures of this Lesson
Screen 1: Photo in: «Master Clips 500,000» by IMSI, CD #16,
JJ000061.JPG. Screen 2: In: «La Révélation - le grand dénouement est
proche», New York, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1988, p.7. Screen 3: ALBEREGNO,
Jacobello (d. 1397). «Vision of Saint John the evangelist on Patmos», Galleria dell'
Accademia, Venice. In: «Revelation - Art of the Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville
Press Publishers, 1997, p.16. Screen 4: Unknown source. Screen 5:
BLAKE, William. «The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun»
(detail), c.1805, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. In: «Revelation - Art of the
Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville Press Publishers, 1997, p.71. Screen 6: ANDERSON,
Harry. In: «Bible Readings for the Home», Review and Herald Publishing Association,
1972, p.262. Screen 7: «The St. Bartholomew Massacre» In: «Histoire du
Monde: Volume 8 - Réformes et Explorations» (STEFFENSEN, J.-L.), Les Éditions
Maisonneuve, 1967, p.724. Screen 8: In: «Histoire du Monde: Volume 6 -
L'Occident au Moyen-Âge» (A. Bailey et S. Reit), Les Éditions Maisonneuve, 1967, p.497.
Screen 9: STEEL, John. In: «God Cares, volume 2» (MAXWELL, C.Mervyn), Pacific
Press Publishing Association, 1985, p.174,175. Screen 10: «Horseman of
the Apocalypse on a Pale Horse Issuing from the Jaws of Hell», French, 13th century.
Lambeth Palace Library, London. In: «Revelation - Art of the Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy),
Abeville Press Publishers, 1997, p.44. Screen 11: BISHOP, Tom.
«Identification of the little horn». In: «New Pictoral Aid For Bible Study» (BREADEN,
Frank), Australian Division of Seventh-Day Adventists, 1970, chart #22. Screen 12:
«Seven-headed serpent from the book of Revelation» from «Luther Bible»,
German, First edition, c.1530, Bible Society, London. In: «Revelation - Art of the
Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville Press Publishers, 1997, p.58. Screen 13: In:
«La Révélation - le grand dénouement est proche», New York, Watch Tower Bible and
Tract Society, 1988, p.97. Screen 14: Photo by Publiphoto. In:
«L'Omnipraticien» Journal (April 16, 1997), p.18. Screen 15: In: «La
Tour de Garde» magazine (January 15, 1992), New York, Watch Tower Bible and Tract
Society, p.32. Screen 16: MANISCALCO, Joe. In: «Images from the Bible
and Sacred History CD», Chosen Works, MLI Software, JM238.BMP. Screen 17: STEEL,
John. In: «The Triumph of God's Love, volume 1» (WHITE, Ellen G.), Pacific Press
Publishing Association and Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950, p.116.
Screen 18: PROVONSHA, Clyde. In: «Votre Bible et vous» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.),
Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1978, p.37. Screen 19: In: «The
Watchtower» magazine (June 1, 1991), New York, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.24.
Screen 20: In: «Histoire du Monde: Volume 8 - Réformes et Explorations»
(STEFFENSEN, J.-L.), Les Éditions Maisonneuve, 1967, p.680. Table of Screen 20: DORÉ,
Gustave. In: «La Bible de Gustave Doré», Lausanne, Edita, 1994, p.107. Screen
21: In: «Histoire du Monde: Volume 6 - L'Occident au Moyen-Âge» (A. Bailey et
S. Reit), Les Éditions Maisonneuve, 1967, p.559. Screen 22: Picture from
«U.S. National Library of Medecine». In: «The Medical Post» Journal (September 23,
1997), p.52. Screen 23: Picture from the Web site:
http://www.tech.org/~cleary/yfg.html. Screen 24: In: «Awake» magazine (January
8, 1989), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.1. Screen 25: In:
«Watchtower» magazine (July 15, 1987), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.28.
Screen 26: HECK, J.G. From the «Complete Encyclopedia of Illustration». In:
«Awake» magazine (October 8, 1997), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.12.
Screen 27: BROWN, Roger. «The Final Arbiter» (1984), Phyllis Kind Gallery, New
York. In: «Revelation - Art of the Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville Press
Publishers, 1997, p.47. Screen 28: In: «La Sentinelle» magazine (November
1983), Pacific Press Publishing Association, p.10. Screen 29: REMMEY,
Paul. In: «The Bible Story, volume 8» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), Pacific Press Publishing
Association, 1956, p.188. Screen 30: Photo in: «Master Clips 500,000»
by IMSI, CD #16, HI020.JPG.
Any copyrighted images not bearing a statement of permission, are used
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The test of Lesson 34 is waiting for you!