The breaking of the seals by the Lord triggers the 7 year tribulation period.
The days of tribulation are the time for ‘retribution, response, and redemption’.
Pastor Wiersbe says that horses represent God’s activity on earth, the forces HE uses to accomplish HIS purpose on earth.
Each judgment is cosmic in nature and has global implications.
Description of each seal is the same as we read in Verse1, verse 3. Verse 5, and verse 7.
The four living creatures invite Apostle John to come and see the unfolding of each event.
The main purpose of the Tribulation is to bring Israel back to God
When the Lord breaks the first seal, we see a rider on white horse.
He has a bow without arrows and a crown on his head.
This crown is not the royal crown but a victor’s crown as he sets out to conquer the world with false hope and false peace.
He is the counterfeit Messiah known as the Anti-Christ.
This rider represents a conquering power that no one can resist.
THIS IS THE WHITE HORSE OF FALSE PEACE.
When the second seal is broken, a rider on a fiery red horse emerges with a large sword.
He represents a political power with a military might.
This second rider takes this peace won by the first rider away from the world through a global confrontation with the power of military.
He brings not just a typical warfare but also civil war, rebellion, assassination and terrorism.
THIS IS THE RED HORSE OF WAR.
When the third seal is broken, we see a rider riding on a black horse holding a pair of scales.
Global famine is the consequence of global war and chaos.
Most affected person is the common man who will face extreme shortage of food and skyrocketing prices.
The pair of scales signifies the difficult time for most of the people to use extreme caution in consumption of food.
The world economy will come apart in the Tribulation.
An inescapable outcome of war is starvation and worldwide inflation and collapsing world economy.
THE BLACK HORSE REPRESENTS FAMINE.
When the fourth seal is broken, we see a rider called ‘death’ riding on a pale horse.
Death has a companion called Hades.
Death takes the body and Hades takes the soul.
This death has the power to kill one fourth of world’s population thru sword, famine, plagues and wild beasts.
Sword means terrible wars between nations, and worldwide terrorism.
Famine means extreme food shortage and crops failure worldwide.
Plagues mean terrible diseases like AIDS and other epidemics.
Wild beasts represent both animals and inhuman actions of lawless societies.
As a result of these 4 horses, one fourth of the human population is killed. (1.5 billion)
Before breaking the seals on the scrolls, Lord Jesus comes for HIS church we call it ‘Rapture’.
The church will be raptured before the 7 year tribulation begins.
Apostle John is writing to all ages of people to be watchful and be ready to hear the Trumpet call of the Rapture.
When we see the unfolding of end time scenario in front of our eyes, we need to be faithful and ready to meet our Lord Jesus Christ.