Who are the four horsemen of the apocalypse?

CHAPTER 6 GIVES US the opening of the seals. Judgment dealings with the earth begin. The words, "and see" in verses 1, 3, 5, 7, are doubtful, and the "Come," uttered by the four living creatures, seems to be a call to the respective riders to come forth. The living creatures speak with a voice like thunder, which befits a call, which has governmental justice and judgment as its object. One after the other there appear four riders, mounted on horses, white, red, black and pale or sallow. Each has his own special feature, but all under the controlling hand of God, symbolized by the living creatures.

First in order, there is the going forth of a great conqueror — bloodless conquest apparently, since white is the colour. Second, an outbreak of war, especially civil war with its lawless horrors. Third, black famine and scarcity. Fourth, pestilence ending in death and Hades, but over a limited area — the fourth part of the earth. It is certainly remarkable how in recent times colours have come to be identified with human movements and confederations. We have heard of armies both white and red, and of blackshirts, etc.

The living creatures introduce successively what follows on the opening of the first four seals: first, imperial conquest; secondly, internecine wars; thirdly, famines; and then pestilence which affects “the fourth part of the earth.” The last summarises the “four sore judgments” spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel as about to fall upon Jerusalem at the time when the temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (chap. 14:21).

He takes the book and opens the seals one after the other. What a revelation it is, beginning with the sixth chapter. At the opening of the first four seals each of the living creatures calls, "Come." It seems to suggest that as Christ was rejected, He now sends the appropriate judgment. The first seal gives us the white horse, the cloud, and the bow, which signifies universal conquest on the part of some mighty hero in the last days. They would not have the Lamb, the true King, and they get one who suggests the beast, of the thirteenth chapter. The second is another, a red horse, signifying the carnage and bloodshed. As they would not have the peaceful ox, Christ as in Mark, now peace is taken from the earth. In the third, you have famine, the man on the black horse holding the balances. They refused the Man who would have fed them from the Father's house of plenty, as in Luke. Finally, in the fourth seal, you have that awful death and hades on the livid horse. They refused the eternal life, as in John, and now life is taken from those who dwell upon the earth.

When the Lamb in heaven opens this seal, a "noise of thunder" is heard, for it is God dealing in righteousness, not in grace; and one of the living creatures says, "Come and see!" or rather, "Come," and not "Come and see;" that is, one of the living creatures calls the rider on a white horse, and he immediately appears on the scene. The seer then says, "I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." This is evidently a mighty subduing power put forth in the earth, and not only successful, but increasingly so; and accomplished not in man's ordinary mode of overcoming, as by the sword, but by the exertion of a more quiet yet more powerful influence. He is shown as having a crown given unto him, not many diadems of power and glory, which Jesus will wear when He is revealed from heaven, but a wreath, a chaplet, such as men award to each other, like the conqueror's wreath at the public games.

The question is, What does this mean? May it not be the mighty, subduing antichristian power which is to arise after the Church has been removed? The apostle Paul speaks of something now hindering the full development of the "mystery of iniquity;" but when the hindrance is removed, "then shall that wicked [or lawless] one be revealed … whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." By the rider on the white horse, then, in this first seal, we understand the mighty antichristian deceiving and subduing power which our Lord foretold: "There shall arise false Christs, and shall deceive many." He rides not only a horse, the emblem of power in the earth; but as Satan always tries to deceive men by imitating God, this rider is on a white horse, because Christ will be symbolized as on a white horse; as Christ will appear wearing many crowns or diadems, this great deceiving power will have a crown given to it; and as Christ will subdue all to Himself, this mimic of Satan will go forth conquering and to conquer; and, alas! "with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." Then God will send men strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Then will our Lord's words be fulfilled: "If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."

The Lamb, invested with all the authority to execute judgment, having received His commission from God, begins now to open the seals of the book which is in His hands, the hands which were once nailed to the cross. It is evident that the breaking of the seals does not begin till His saints are gathered around the throne in glory. Until then it is still the day of grace. When the first seal is opened one of the living creatures said in voice of thunder, "Come." The words "and see" must be omitted here and in verses 3, 5 and 7. A rider upon a white horse appears; his is a bloodless conquest. He has a bow, but no arrow. He receives a crown and goes forth to conquer. Many expositors make this rider the Lord Jesus or some power which represents Him. It is positively incorrect. The rider here is a great counterfeit leader, not the personal Antichrist, but the little horn which Daniel saw coming out of the ten-horned beast (Dan. 7). This coming leader of the revived Roman empire will go forth to conquer and become its political head. He is Satan's man as we shall see later.

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living creatures saying, Come [and see]. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer." One need hardly combat the thought that this rider is the Lord Jesus, and that His conquests are the triumphs of the gospel. No doubt Christ afterwards comes from heaven upon a white horse (Rev. 19:11); but a white horse only symbolizes victorious power, and, like the lion, the throne, the crown, and other emblems, is used without regard to the moral character of those with whom it is connected. Christ is called a lion, and so is the devil. God has a throne, and so has Satan. Christ has many crowns, and so has the dragon. The mere figure then of a lion, a throne, or a crown proves nothing about the nature of the one of whom it is spoken. This must be learnt from the context. So with the white horse. We must ask what the surroundings show of him who sits upon it.

"I saw, and, behold, a white horse: and he that sat upon it had a bow; and a crown was given to him: and he went (or, came) forth conquering and that he might conquer." It is the answer to the call. The first then advances, and the character of his action is prosperity in conquest. Every trait shows this. It is the earliest state that the Spirit of God notices as then to be brought about in the world. A mighty conqueror shall appear here below. This has been applied to a great variety of things and persons. It has been held to mean the triumphs of the gospel! by some Christ's coming again! by others Antichrist, and one knows not what. But we may safely gather from the first Seal that God judicially employs a conqueror who is to carry everything before him. A crown was given him. This would be the notable event among men, which is the first to happen on earth after the translation of the glorified to heaven at Christ's coming, in fact after Rev. 4 and 5. How absurd to talk of it as "victory for God's church and people"!

"And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. And another came forth, a red horse; and to him that sat upon it, to him it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another; and there was given to him a great sword." The difference is here marked. It is necessarily by bloodshed in the second Seal, which implies carnage if not civil war. The rider is not on a white horse, the symbol of victory; but mounted on another, a red horse, with a great sword, he has a commission to kill. Aggressive power which subjugates is meant by the horse in every colour; but in the first case that power seems to subject men bloodlessly. He had a bow, emblematic of distant warfare, not close or hand to hand. The measures are so successful — the name itself carries such prestige with it — that it becomes one onward career of conquest without necessarily involving slaughter. But in the second Seal the great point is that the peace of the earth is taken away, and "that they should slay one another." It may be the horror of civil warfare.

Returning then to our question, we must, in order to seek the answer, attend to the details here given. The prominent object is the white horse.* A horse is often used in Scripture as a symbol of God's power in His providential government (see Zechariah 1:8-11); and the white horse, from the analogy of Rev. 19, would seem to be connected with the exercise of victorious judgments, all-conquering might in conquest. The rider has a bow, setting forth his warrior character; and a crown was given unto him.† The import of this statement will be, that this mighty conqueror, used as others have been in past ages for the execution of God's judgments upon earth, is not a monarch when he first appears, but one who obtains a crown by his energy, his strategy, or his victories. The powers that be are ordained of God, and hence, though this successful warrior may even seize his crown, it is yet given to him.‡ Lastly, he goes forth conquering and to conquer; no one, and nothing, can withstand his seemingly irresistible power, as he marches on through victory to victory.

The various coloured horses in the first four Seals represent in symbol the human agencies employed in the execution of these judgments on earth, which are providential in character. But as Christians having the mind of Christ, i.e., the discerning faculty, we look behind the mere historical course of events and trace all to the unseen source, God Himself. So the living creatures, the executive of the throne, successively call on the human instruments of vengeance to execute their divinely-appointed task. They cannot move in judgment till summoned by the throne to do so. What a strength to the heart in days of evil! The first four Seals are characterised by the living creatures and horses. In the remaining three there is no mention made of either.

There is special comfort to be found along these very lines just now in that part of Scripture where we might least expect it—the book of Revelation. In chapter 6 “the seals are opened one by one.” We see come forth at the call of the living creatures horsemen, the first on a white horse; he goes forth conquering and to conquer—another Napoleon, carrying everything before him. At the call of the second living creature another rider appears; by him peace is taken from the earth (how perilously near we are to that already) that men should kill one another. Famine follows, “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”

Here we have the “high cost of living” advanced to the limit. A “measure” (chænix) was about a quart and was considered a day's ration sufficient for one person; and a “penny,” as we know from the parable of the labourers (Matt. 20), was a day's wage, the equivalent, say, of two dollars in one day. This brings us to the appalling conclusion that in these coming days of unprecedented scarcity it will require the day's earnings of a working man to purchase sufficient to feed himself, or another beside himself, if he is willing to eat the coarser kind of food (barley); but what is to become of his family—his children or others dependent on him?