If I Were Told the Future - Lesson 34

The Rider on a Pale Horse

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The Rider on a Pale Horse

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	Comments
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, ŤCome up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.ť	The opening of the seven seals, which Jesus made possible, reveals to us Ťthings which must take place after thisť. Let's study the fourth seal.
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.

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Revelation 6:7	Comments
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ŤCome and see.ť	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 Ťflying eagleť mean?
Revelation 4:7
The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.

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Daniel 7:25

Comments

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 ŤThe Four Mythical Beastsť, in which we saw that a religio-political power, the Ťlittle hornť, would persecute the people of God during the Middle Ages, more precisely for Ťa time and times and half a timeť, 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	Comments
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 Ťeagleť, the woman was able to Ťfly into the wildernessť.

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Revelation 4:7	Comments
The fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.	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.
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.

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Lamentations 4:19	Comments
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.	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.
Matthew 24:28
For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

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The flying eagle is the symbol of a nation which hunts down and kills:

ŤThe Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies.ť (DEUTERONOMY 28:49)

ŤDoes 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.ť (JOB 39:27-30)

ŤTheir 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.ť (HABAKKUK 1:8)

ŤNow 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.ť (JOB 9:25,26)

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Revelation 6:7,8	Comments
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ŤCome and see.ť 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.	ŤHadesť is a Greek word meaning Ťthe abode of the deadť. 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	Comments
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.	The ŤDeath and Hades (hell)ť of the fourth seal describe very well the work of a Ťproud manť. What does that mean?
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.

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Habakkuk 2:5	Comments
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.	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.
Daniel 7:8
Another horn, a little one, (...) [had] a mouth speaking pompous words.

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Habakkuk 2:5	Comments
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.	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.
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.

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Revelation 6:8	Comments
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 Ťa fourth of the earthť indeed indicate that those plagues hit only a part of the world.

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Revelation 2:18,22,23	Comments
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, Ť(...) 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.ť	The letter to Thyatira also foretold the Ťgreat tribulationť 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	Comments
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 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.
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.

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Revelation 6:8	Comments
Power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword.	First the sword is sent to awaken the people who are in the process of forgetting God...
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.

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Ezekiel 33:4	Comments
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.	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.
Revelation 2:18,21
And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, Ť(...) I gave [Jezebel] time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.ť

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Revelation 6:8	Comments
Power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill (...) with hunger.	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.
Matthew 4:4
[Jesus] answered and said, ŤIt is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."ť

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Amos 8:11,12	Comments
ŤBehold, the days are coming,ť says the Lord God, ŤThat 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.ť	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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The spiritual famine hits the third church and the fourth church:

     False doctrines in Pergamos,     |   False doctrines in Thyatira,
     the Church from 313 to 538:      | the Church from 538 to 1517:
======================================|==================================
ŤBut I have a few things against you, | ŤNevertheless I have a few things
because you have there those who hold | against you, because you allow
the doctrine of Balaam, who taught | that woman Jezebel, who calls
Balak to put a stumbling block before | herself a prophetess, to teach
the children of Israel, to eat things | and beguile My servants to commit
sacrificed to idols, and to commit | sexual immorality and to eat
sexual immorality.ť                   | things sacrificed to idols.ť
                    (REVELATION 2:14) |                 (REVELATION 2:20)

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Revelation 6:8	Comments
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 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 Ťdeathť can be replaced by the word Ťpestilenceť.
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.

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Ezekiel 14:13,15,17,19	Comments
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 (...).	The plague of the fourth seal indicated by the word Ťdeathť is pestilence, that is, a virulent and fatal epidemic disease.
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.

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Pestilence is added to sword and famine to punish apostasy:

ŤTherefore 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.ť (JEREMIAH 14:10,12)

ŤAnd 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.ť (JEREMIAH 24:8,10)

ŤBut 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.ť (JEREMIAH 32:34,36)

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Revelation 6:8	Comments
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 last plague of the fourth seal is Ťthe beasts of the earthť. By comparing this list with other sets of plagues in the Bible, we notice that wild beasts represent warlike nations.
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.

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Daniel 7:23	Comments
The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth.	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.
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.

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Pestilence, beasts, sword, famine: the four plagues punishing apostasy.

ŤIf 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.ť (LEVITICUS 26:14,16,21-25,27-29)

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Revelation 6:8	Comments
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.	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!
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.

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Revelation 1:18	Comments
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.	Jesus overcame death. Even more, He wants to share with us this victory over death and the grave, and offers us eternal life.
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!

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Persecution, suffering and death will soon disappear forever!

ŤOne 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."ť (REVELATION 7:13-17)

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Let's pray together:

Our God,

It is written: ŤWho 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.ť (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.

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