The Four

Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be 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 wine!”

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:1-8

As a video game nerd in my younger years, such fantasies still excite a small part of my emotions.

Even if you had been attending church for a while, this might still be a little unfamiliar to you. The book of Revelation is not a book often picked for sermons. You would see that it is a tricky book to read. With a lot of explanations that are rather uncommon to our daily lives, it is difficult to understand and interpret it in the modern world.

I guess the beauty of it all would be the multiple possible explanations. For one, just this weekend, the daily passage of the sermon was specifically on the Four Horsemen. I always had taken it to be a fancy method of judgement coming, but the pastor had a different take. He saw it as God’s sovereignty.

Despite any of my crisp behavior, the coming of disasters might have nothing to do with it. Peace is given by God and destruction is given by God. I am completely under the mercy of Him. Somewhere in my mind, I always thought my doing “good” would somehow lead me to quiet waters. I am starting to be more dependent on God, as all I can say is, “God be merciful.”