The first four seals: white horse, red horse, black horse, gray horse

Revelation 6:1-8, When I saw the Lamb opening the first of the seven seals, I heard One of the four living creatures, with a voice like thunder, said, "Come!" Then I looked, and behold a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him. Then he came out, victorious and victorious.

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a red one, and authority was given to the rider to Peace was taken away from the earth, causing people to kill one another, and a great sword was given to him.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" So I looked and saw a black horse, and the one who sat on it had a scale in his hand. I heard what seemed to be a voice among the four living creatures saying, "One denarius of wheat for one liter, and one denarius of barley for three liters of barley; do not waste the oil or the wine."

When the fourth seal was opened, And I heard the fourth living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, there was a gray horse, and the man who sat on it was named Death, and Hades was with him, and authority was given to them with the sword, Famine, pestilence, and wild beasts killed a quarter of the people on the earth.

This is the prophecy of the first four seals. Whenever Jesus opened a seal, one of the four living creatures would say, "Come!" and a horse would come out. Four horses appeared one after another. The first seal is a white horse, the second seal is a red horse, the third seal is a black horse, and the fourth seal is a gray horse. This symbolizes the state of the church corresponding to each period and the judgment of the church corresponding to each period.

The first seal is the white horse.

The first seal is the white horse. White symbolizes purity and victory. "He who sat on the horse had a bow, and a crown was given to him," and he "overcame and will overcome." How appropriate is this to symbolize the early church's victory over the forces of paganism and its victory in world missionary work. !

Hab 3:8-9, "O LORD, do you not take pleasure in the rivers, when you are mounted on a horse and sit in the chariot of victory? Do you not take pleasure in the rivers, and send out your anger against the rivers and your indignation against the seas? Your bow It is fully revealed that the oaths sworn to all the tribes are trustworthy. You divided the earth with rivers."

We can see that riding on a horse, drawing a bow and shooting arrows, symbolizes taking over the world with the gospel.

The famous historian Edward Gibbon wrote a book "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". Chapter 15 of this book says: During the period of the early church, the number of Christians in Rome reached 50,000; In Antioch in Asia, the number of believers reached 100,000, accounting for one-fifth of the entire city's population; the number of Christians in the entire Roman Empire reached 5 million. Not long after the early church began, the number of church members increased to 5 million. The gospel is spread everywhere, there are Christians everywhere, and churches are established everywhere. This is exactly what illustrates the situation where the white horse "comes out, wins and wins again".

Romans 1:8, "First of all, I give thanks to my God for you all through Jesus Christ, because your faith has spread throughout the world."

Col ??1: 23. “Only if you remain patient, grounded, and steadfast in the faith, and are not led away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which has been preached to all people throughout the world. I, Paul, also do this Minister of the gospel.”

At the time of Paul’s life, the gospel had been preached throughout the world. This is exactly the image of the early church riding on horseback, shooting fiercely, and winning victory after victory.

The Second Seal: Red Horse

When the second seal was opened, a red horse passed by. The red horse symbolizes war and bloodshed, and it symbolizes the period of persecution, symbolizing (the Church of Smyrna).

The church lost its “first love” and began to be jealous of each other, fight against each other, and form factions. As the whiteness of the white horse gradually faded, strife and vendettas began to appear in the church. That’s why it’s said, “Take peace from the earth and cause people to kill one another.”

He also said that "a great sword was given to him." At this time, great persecution came to the church, and it was a period when a lot of blood was shed. The period of suffering due to external persecution and the period when the church began to lose its purity was the period of the second church or second seal.

The Third Seal: Dark Horse

The third seal is the dark horse period. During this period, the church was conquered by black forces, the forces of evil. The once pure and fiery church began to fall, worldliness entered and filled the church, and error began to replace pure truth. During this period, human traditions and error were more respected than the word of God.

The theories of hell, purgatory, and immortality of the soul are all wrong teachings. After death, the soul goes to heaven or hell, and the fire of hell burns the person forever. These are not in line with the Bible. The Bible says that after death, a person remains in a state of unconscious sleep until resurrection (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, John 5:28-29). It is also unbiblical to say that there is a purgatory between heaven and hell. Just like that, these pagan teachings found their way into the church.

There is also the institution of confession, the ritual confession of sins to a priest, which is also unbiblical. Jesus alone is the Mediator.

There is also the worship of saints, which is also idolatry and breaks God's commandments. In the Catholic Ten Commandments, they deleted the second commandment! Because they want to worship idols.

Also, they changed the days of worship and so on.

There were many compromises of truth during this period. During this period, the research and teachings of many theologians were more authoritative than the words in the Bible; superstitious religious rituals replaced true faith. Once it was the gospel that conquered Rome, but now it was Rome that began to conquer Christianity and the church. During this period, Catholic rituals took root in the church.

What does it mean to say that the rider "holds a scale in his hand"? The scales symbolize the authority of the law. What patterns do we often see in courts? It's the pattern of a scale. The scales symbolize the political and religious power of the church's leaders. The emperors Constantine and Gamustine gave political power to the leader of the Roman Church and gave him the authority to rule over pagans, judge and punish heretics. From that time on, the papacy began to rise and began to carry out political persecution from the church against those true Christians.

Here it is said, "One denarius shall buy a liter of wheat, and a denarius shall buy three liters of barley; do not waste the oil and the wine." What does this mean? One denarius was a day's wages for a worker at that time. Originally, one penny of silver could buy five liters of wheat, but here one penny of silver could only buy one liter of wheat. This liter of wheat was only enough for one person. Originally one denarius could buy twenty-four liters of barley, but here you could only buy three liters of barley. This is describing a severe famine, a very serious poverty and economic crisis.

During the Middle Ages, Christianity declined rapidly and suffered a spiritual famine. During this period, error was rampant and the saints could only receive very little spiritual food.

However, olive oil symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit and wine symbolizes the teachings of Jesus, these still exist. During that period, there were still a few loyal people who were protected by God and believed in the truth. It is said here that "do not hurt" them. But on the whole, the church has fallen, is experiencing spiritual famine, and cannot have enough to eat. This is the situation during this period.

Isaiah 55:1, "All you who are thirsty, come to the water, even if you have no money. Come and buy something to eat, without money or price, but also with wine and milk. . ”

Do you know? We are also living in a time of severe spiritual famine right now. There are many churches, and they appear to have great development on the outside. However, the churches are in a state of being very poor in spiritual truth, and human teachings have gained power in the churches. Do you know that there is still a reality of spiritual famine in the church today? As we have said before, we are now in the period of the Laodicean church!

The Fourth Seal: The Gray Horse

The fourth seal is the Gray Horse. Gray is the color of death, the color of corpses, a color worse than black. When the leaves are completely dead, they turn gray. This is a time when the church is completely spiritually dead, without the presence of the righteous Jesus. The clergy preach falsehood and use the authority of the church to persecute those who truly live according to the Word of the Bible. This was a period of papal tyranny.

The Roman Empire tried hard to destroy Christianity, but they failed. So the devil began to infiltrate the church and gain power in the church. By bringing error into the church and killing true believers through the papacy, the purpose of destroying Christianity was achieved. This was the period when tens of millions of people were martyred.

Ask for extra points! ! ! Begging for extra points! ! ! !