Revelation 6:1-8 - The Final Four
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is probably one of the most familiar images of Revelation, second perhaps only to the pearly gates and streets of gold of the heavenly New Jerusalem. But they’re not quite what we think that they are.
As this study moves into Chapter 6, we get into the “real stuff’ of Revelation, at least the way we may typically view this book. After all this preliminary stuff (description of Jesus, letters to churches, description of heaven), we get into what most people think Revelation is really about: a description of what will happen at the end times. These four riders are so horrific that we’re certain that they must represent what will happen when the world comes to an end. Not so fast.
First of all, we need to get rid of the idea that the “real” message of Revelation is to tell us what will happen during the end times. Sure, there are definitely parts of the book that do so; Chapter 19 and 20, for example. But that’s not the only thing that the book is about. And I’m not sure where we get that idea from. Look back at 1:19. At the beginning of John’s vision, he sees Jesus and he describes Jesus to us. Then Jesus tells John, “Write what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” That’s the way Jesus himself describes John’s vision: what is now, and what will be. It’s a description of both the present and the future. “What is now” is a disclosure of how spiritual forces and beings are affecting human life. The vision tells us where history is heading, but it also helps us understand where we are now.
Chapter 5 ended with the Lamb (Christ) taking the sealed scroll of God’s plan for creation, and he prepared to break open the seals to reveal and enact that will. As the Lamb opens each of the first four seals, a horseman rides out from heaven into the earth. That’s right: the Lamb releases the horsemen as He fulfills God’s plan for the world. So the horsemen are not demonic forces causing havoc and tribulation as they challenge God’s authority and blessedness. They are actually part of God’s plan! Jesus is in charge of it all. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, you’re in good company. How can God, the good, holy, loving One, be the one who brings horror to the earth?
One of the toughest nuts to crack in Christian philosophy (and other religious philosophy as well) is called the “problem of evil.” The problem is this: we believe three things that contradict each other. They are:
1. God is good and loving.
2. God is all-powerful.
3. There is evil and suffering in the world.
If God can do anything, and if he’s good, then why does he let bad stuff happen? As I’ve studied this dilemma, nearly all answers are some version of fudging on one of the three beliefs. Some people say that God isn’t really all that good and loving, or that our understanding of goodness and love is different from God’s. Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner, went this direction. Others say that God means well, but that he just can’t quite pull it off. Harold Kushner (author of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”) and process theologians play this angle. And other people say that what appears to be evil and suffering really isn’t that bad. Or at least, it’s necessary to serve a higher purpose. John Calvin went this way, and the “Free Will Defense” does too. I have yet to find a variation of any of these three approaches that doesn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Revelation unapologetically affirms all three beliefs. God is good and holy: we’ve already seen that in Chapters 4 and 5, and it will be even clearer in Chapters 21 and 22. His goodness is the final word. God is all-powerful. He is in control of what happens. As we see demonic beings and forces of evil later in Revelation, we will see that they are only able to do what God permits, and that he can undo them in a snap. Nobody tells God what to do. And Revelation takes suffering seriously. It’s how John described himself in 1:9, and the horrific descriptions of suffering and calamity that we’ll find as we go on just support it even more. We might not be able to make sense of it, but that’s the message that Revelation gives us. And in this passage, we get the message that whatever the horsemen do is what Christ has permitted them to do. In fact, they play a role in God’s plan. That does not mean that God’s plan is a plan of suffering and calamity. And I don’t think that it means that suffering and calamity are necessary for God’s will to take place; nothing is “necessary” for God. Instead, I think that these horsemen of horror reveal the reality of the world into which God’s plan comes. Think of them as the CT scan that shows where the cancer is. The scan doesn’t cause the cancer. But a scan that reveals the cancer makes the doctor’s treatment plan possible. Evil has to be identified before it can be removed. But it’s all under God’s control.
There’s a progression among the four horsemen. And again, bear in mind that they’re riding in our world right now.
The first rider is a conqueror. This is where it all starts out. Conquest is about winning: proving that you’re the top dog. Competition is good, right? We want to show that we’re Number One. Whether it’s a sports match-up, or a game of cards, or class rank in school, or even international relations. We want to win. But as we’ll see, this prideful desire to be the best, a form of self-idolatry, inevitably causes horror and even death.
This rider is pretentious; he tries to be Christ, the true Conqueror. Compare this rider to how Christ is described in 19:11-16. We get ourselves into trouble when we try to take on for ourselves the position that belongs to Christ, and to Christ alone. We all want the victor’s crown and the white clothing of the winner.
The second rider is warfare, riding on a blood-red horse and wields a mighty sword. Conflict inevitably occurs when you get two people who both think they’re in charge, and they try to impose their will upon each other. That’s the recipe for every fight from a playground shoving match to international war. Sometimes it’s literal physical conflict. But sometimes conflict is more subtle but no less damaging: ruining someone’s reputation, taking away their opportunities and assets, belittling what they hold dear, and so on.
Warfare and conflict leads to injustice. The scales of justice become a farce, as common people are denied the simplest staples of life (like wheat and barley) while the privileged enjoy their luxuries (oil and wine) untouched. The most recent outrage in our country has been the multi-million dollar bonuses for AIG executives, while unprecedented numbers of people are losing their homes and jobs. But the rider of the black horse is more than injustice: it is also famine (remember that metaphorical meaning can be multiple), as the basics for life are being rationed out. In the long run, everyone loses in situations of conflict, because so much is destroyed. The “winner” gets a bigger piece of the pie, but it’s a smaller pie.
And finally, the last rider is Death, with Hades (the dwelling place of the dead) following behind. The shortages and privations of conflict between people and parties who are trying to conquer each other finally kills us all. We’ve played a simple simulation game in our church in which groups of people assume the identities of different nations, and they’ve told that the goal is to survive. What they rarely realize is that there’s plenty of food for everyone. But instead of thinking that way, they try to have their nation “win.” So countries like Australia and Canada and the US, which produce more food than they need, charge more for their extra food than poor and needy countries like India even have. So India “starves,” while the richer countries add more money to their treasuries. Competition and conquest kills.
Conquest. Warfare. Injustice. Famine. Disease. Death. For some reason we want to think that these riders of the apocalypse are a sign of what will happen in the future. But they’re not. It takes a pretty blind person not to notice that these things are going on all around us, and have been for centuries. It’s happening now. And it always has. Well, someone may argue, it’s going to be worse in the future. After all, the fourth rider is going to kill a fourth of the population. That’s huge. Yes, it is. But it’s happening now, and it’s happened in the past.
• By some estimates, up to 95% of the population of the American continents was wiped out by new European diseases that arrived with Columbus and those who came after him. This could represent up to one in every five people on the face of the earth at the time. Even the most conservative estimates say that half of the people on two continents died over the course of just a couple generations at most.
• The Black Death of the 13th century killed at least a third, and perhaps as much as 45%, of the population of Europe.
• In some African nations, the rate of infection for HIV/AIDS is more than 25%. Drug treatments can provide a long and healthy life for people who are infected…if they can afford the drugs. But because of the third horseman, the people who need the help don’t always get it.
And these are just a few examples. Warfare, famine, and disease lead the way for Death to have his way in our world.
It’s easy for us to kid ourselves into thinking that the four riders will disrupt the “normal.” But the represent what is normal, at least in this fallen and broken world of ours. We just don’t recognize it. And that’s not just true for people here in an affluent land that is sheltered from the worst of it. During World War II, people on both sides of the battle line ignored the horrors of the Holocaust that were going on around them. In Africa, the AIDS epidemic was denied by the very people whose villages were being depopulated by it.
When we don’t recognize that the four horsemen represent “normal” in this world, several things happen. First, we get attached to this world and we think it’s marvelous. Second, when troubles hit us, we think that they’re unusual calamities. Third, we fail to recognize that our efforts to get on top, or at least a little bit higher, cause so much suffering. When we get on the white horse, the other three follow us.
As this study moves into Chapter 6, we get into the “real stuff’ of Revelation, at least the way we may typically view this book. After all this preliminary stuff (description of Jesus, letters to churches, description of heaven), we get into what most people think Revelation is really about: a description of what will happen at the end times. These four riders are so horrific that we’re certain that they must represent what will happen when the world comes to an end. Not so fast.
First of all, we need to get rid of the idea that the “real” message of Revelation is to tell us what will happen during the end times. Sure, there are definitely parts of the book that do so; Chapter 19 and 20, for example. But that’s not the only thing that the book is about. And I’m not sure where we get that idea from. Look back at 1:19. At the beginning of John’s vision, he sees Jesus and he describes Jesus to us. Then Jesus tells John, “Write what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” That’s the way Jesus himself describes John’s vision: what is now, and what will be. It’s a description of both the present and the future. “What is now” is a disclosure of how spiritual forces and beings are affecting human life. The vision tells us where history is heading, but it also helps us understand where we are now.
Chapter 5 ended with the Lamb (Christ) taking the sealed scroll of God’s plan for creation, and he prepared to break open the seals to reveal and enact that will. As the Lamb opens each of the first four seals, a horseman rides out from heaven into the earth. That’s right: the Lamb releases the horsemen as He fulfills God’s plan for the world. So the horsemen are not demonic forces causing havoc and tribulation as they challenge God’s authority and blessedness. They are actually part of God’s plan! Jesus is in charge of it all. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, you’re in good company. How can God, the good, holy, loving One, be the one who brings horror to the earth?
One of the toughest nuts to crack in Christian philosophy (and other religious philosophy as well) is called the “problem of evil.” The problem is this: we believe three things that contradict each other. They are:
1. God is good and loving.
2. God is all-powerful.
3. There is evil and suffering in the world.
If God can do anything, and if he’s good, then why does he let bad stuff happen? As I’ve studied this dilemma, nearly all answers are some version of fudging on one of the three beliefs. Some people say that God isn’t really all that good and loving, or that our understanding of goodness and love is different from God’s. Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner, went this direction. Others say that God means well, but that he just can’t quite pull it off. Harold Kushner (author of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”) and process theologians play this angle. And other people say that what appears to be evil and suffering really isn’t that bad. Or at least, it’s necessary to serve a higher purpose. John Calvin went this way, and the “Free Will Defense” does too. I have yet to find a variation of any of these three approaches that doesn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Revelation unapologetically affirms all three beliefs. God is good and holy: we’ve already seen that in Chapters 4 and 5, and it will be even clearer in Chapters 21 and 22. His goodness is the final word. God is all-powerful. He is in control of what happens. As we see demonic beings and forces of evil later in Revelation, we will see that they are only able to do what God permits, and that he can undo them in a snap. Nobody tells God what to do. And Revelation takes suffering seriously. It’s how John described himself in 1:9, and the horrific descriptions of suffering and calamity that we’ll find as we go on just support it even more. We might not be able to make sense of it, but that’s the message that Revelation gives us. And in this passage, we get the message that whatever the horsemen do is what Christ has permitted them to do. In fact, they play a role in God’s plan. That does not mean that God’s plan is a plan of suffering and calamity. And I don’t think that it means that suffering and calamity are necessary for God’s will to take place; nothing is “necessary” for God. Instead, I think that these horsemen of horror reveal the reality of the world into which God’s plan comes. Think of them as the CT scan that shows where the cancer is. The scan doesn’t cause the cancer. But a scan that reveals the cancer makes the doctor’s treatment plan possible. Evil has to be identified before it can be removed. But it’s all under God’s control.
There’s a progression among the four horsemen. And again, bear in mind that they’re riding in our world right now.
The first rider is a conqueror. This is where it all starts out. Conquest is about winning: proving that you’re the top dog. Competition is good, right? We want to show that we’re Number One. Whether it’s a sports match-up, or a game of cards, or class rank in school, or even international relations. We want to win. But as we’ll see, this prideful desire to be the best, a form of self-idolatry, inevitably causes horror and even death.
This rider is pretentious; he tries to be Christ, the true Conqueror. Compare this rider to how Christ is described in 19:11-16. We get ourselves into trouble when we try to take on for ourselves the position that belongs to Christ, and to Christ alone. We all want the victor’s crown and the white clothing of the winner.
The second rider is warfare, riding on a blood-red horse and wields a mighty sword. Conflict inevitably occurs when you get two people who both think they’re in charge, and they try to impose their will upon each other. That’s the recipe for every fight from a playground shoving match to international war. Sometimes it’s literal physical conflict. But sometimes conflict is more subtle but no less damaging: ruining someone’s reputation, taking away their opportunities and assets, belittling what they hold dear, and so on.
Warfare and conflict leads to injustice. The scales of justice become a farce, as common people are denied the simplest staples of life (like wheat and barley) while the privileged enjoy their luxuries (oil and wine) untouched. The most recent outrage in our country has been the multi-million dollar bonuses for AIG executives, while unprecedented numbers of people are losing their homes and jobs. But the rider of the black horse is more than injustice: it is also famine (remember that metaphorical meaning can be multiple), as the basics for life are being rationed out. In the long run, everyone loses in situations of conflict, because so much is destroyed. The “winner” gets a bigger piece of the pie, but it’s a smaller pie.
And finally, the last rider is Death, with Hades (the dwelling place of the dead) following behind. The shortages and privations of conflict between people and parties who are trying to conquer each other finally kills us all. We’ve played a simple simulation game in our church in which groups of people assume the identities of different nations, and they’ve told that the goal is to survive. What they rarely realize is that there’s plenty of food for everyone. But instead of thinking that way, they try to have their nation “win.” So countries like Australia and Canada and the US, which produce more food than they need, charge more for their extra food than poor and needy countries like India even have. So India “starves,” while the richer countries add more money to their treasuries. Competition and conquest kills.
Conquest. Warfare. Injustice. Famine. Disease. Death. For some reason we want to think that these riders of the apocalypse are a sign of what will happen in the future. But they’re not. It takes a pretty blind person not to notice that these things are going on all around us, and have been for centuries. It’s happening now. And it always has. Well, someone may argue, it’s going to be worse in the future. After all, the fourth rider is going to kill a fourth of the population. That’s huge. Yes, it is. But it’s happening now, and it’s happened in the past.
• By some estimates, up to 95% of the population of the American continents was wiped out by new European diseases that arrived with Columbus and those who came after him. This could represent up to one in every five people on the face of the earth at the time. Even the most conservative estimates say that half of the people on two continents died over the course of just a couple generations at most.
• The Black Death of the 13th century killed at least a third, and perhaps as much as 45%, of the population of Europe.
• In some African nations, the rate of infection for HIV/AIDS is more than 25%. Drug treatments can provide a long and healthy life for people who are infected…if they can afford the drugs. But because of the third horseman, the people who need the help don’t always get it.
And these are just a few examples. Warfare, famine, and disease lead the way for Death to have his way in our world.
It’s easy for us to kid ourselves into thinking that the four riders will disrupt the “normal.” But the represent what is normal, at least in this fallen and broken world of ours. We just don’t recognize it. And that’s not just true for people here in an affluent land that is sheltered from the worst of it. During World War II, people on both sides of the battle line ignored the horrors of the Holocaust that were going on around them. In Africa, the AIDS epidemic was denied by the very people whose villages were being depopulated by it.
When we don’t recognize that the four horsemen represent “normal” in this world, several things happen. First, we get attached to this world and we think it’s marvelous. Second, when troubles hit us, we think that they’re unusual calamities. Third, we fail to recognize that our efforts to get on top, or at least a little bit higher, cause so much suffering. When we get on the white horse, the other three follow us.
posted by Rev. Peter de Vries, Old Union Presbyterian Church @ 3:15 PM
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