THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: REVELATION 6:1-8




INTRODUCTION:


  1. Years ago I heard Pastor Rod Bell tell a story from his childhood that I shall never forget. He grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia.
  2. One day he was standing on a mountain top, looking down, and he could see the waters flooding around the foothills due to heavy rain. The water accumulated and swamped the foothills below.
  3. He then saw a young man on a motorcycle racing down one of the winding mountain roads. But the man could not see ahead very far because of the heavy mist. As he quickly raced down the road, Bro. Bell shouted, "Look out! Slow down! STOP!!" But the biker could not hear him.
  4. Unfortunately, the young man hit the water, started skidding, and then crashed.
  5. The point Bro. Bell made, and the point I am going to make is this: most people in the world today are like that young man racing down the mountain. They are headed for trouble but they cannot see it.
  6. Those of us who are saved and understand God’s Word are like young Rod Bell standing upon the mountain top. We are shouting at the lost: "Look out! Slow down! STOP." But they cannot hear us.
  7. Maybe there are some unsaved people here today. You are not like the man on the motorcycle because you can hear me. I don’t need to shout. All I need to do is open up God’s Word and show you the danger that is just ahead.
  8. I am going to preach today from the book of Revelation. It explains to us what is in store for those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Those without Christ do not realize that unless they repent and get right with God they are headed for the great tribulation (cf. Matt.24:21).
  9. Today, the Lord Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Soon He will arise. I do not know how soon this will be.
  10. But soon He will get up. And God the Father will give Him a book "sealed with seven seals" (Rev.5:1-7).
  11. And soon He will open those seals (Rev.6:1). And when He does it will be literally hell on earth. I tried to give a flier to an old man and he cursed me and He cursed God, bitterly and violently. He blasphemed God and I warned him of his punishment in hell unless he repented. He scoffed and said: "This is hell." He is wrong. This is not hell.
  12. During the horrible blitzkrieg of London during WWII, the Nazis bombed the city badly, and everything was up in flames. Buildings were toppling over, and babies and their mothers were screaming and crying. In the midst of all this agony and despair, an evangelist was standing in the streets of London preaching the Gospel. While he was preaching, a skeptic interrupted him and said, "Listen, preacher – this is hell! This is hell!" The preacher replied, "Sir, this is not hell. And I will give you three good reasons why. One, I am a Christian and there are no Christians in hell. Secondly, there is a church building right around the corner and there are no churches in hell. Thirdly, I am preaching the Gospel, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead – and sir, there is no Gospel preaching in hell."
  13. About three weeks later, that same evangelist was preaching in Hyde Park and when he gave out the invitation, the first person to come forward at the invitation was that skeptic. That evangelist was right – there are no churches in hell. There are no Bibles in hell. There are no Christians in hell. There are no swimming pools and fans and air conditioners and iced tea and soda pop in hell!
  14. But there is a day of judgment coming when God will literally pour out His hot wrath upon this wicked world and for a few years it certainly will seem like hell on earth.
  15. I want to preach on what it is going to be like when God pours out His wrath upon this planet and it becomes hell on earth. I am going to be speaking on the subject of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

 

I. THE FIRST HORSEMEN – ON A WHITE HORSE (6:1,2).

    1. The tribulation will begin when God opens the first seal. The rider on the white horse is a deceiver (6:2). He will come across as a hero but will really be the antichrist (cf. Dan.8:25; 9:27; II Thess.2:3-12).
    2. The white horse indicates that the rider will be a counterfeit of the true Prince of Peace. He will be the false messiah, the antichrist, who will be defeated by our Lord at the battle of Armageddon (Rev.19:11-21).
    3. Today the world is being prepared for Armageddon and they are being programmed to receive the antichrist – they are being programmed by the politicians, by the United Nations, through the public schools, through the liberal churches, and so on.
    4. Listen to this quote from P.H. Spock, who was the premier of Belgium: "The truth is that the method of international committees has failed. What we need is a person, someone of the highest order or great experience, of great authority, of wide influence, of great energy. Let him come and let him come quickly. Either a civilian or a military man, no matter what his nationality, who will cut all the red tape, shove out of the way all the committees, wake up all the people and galvanize all governments into action. Let him come quickly. This man we need and for whom we wait will take charge of the defense of the West. Once more I say, it is not too late, but it is high time."
    5. Notice Mr. Spock said his coming superman "will take charge of the defense of the West." According to the book of Daniel, the antichrist will emerge as the head of the revived Roman Empire, i.e. the united states of Europe.
    6. Let me give you a couple more quotes and then I will move on. One of the leaders of the European Common Market, a man by the name of Henry Speck, has said: "We don’t need another committee. We want a man of stature to hold the allegiance of the people and lift us up out of the economic morass we have gotten ourselves into…Send us a man, whether he be God or a devil, send him!"
    7. The historian, A.J. Toynbee said: "By forcing on mankind more and more lethal weapons and at the same time making the whole world more and more inter-dependent economically, technology has brought mankind to such a degree of distress that we are ripe for deifying any new Caesar who might succeed in giving the world unity and peace."
    8. "Unity and peace" are what the world is looking for and the antichrist will give them what they want (cf. I Thess.5:1-3).

 

II. THE SECOND HORSEMAN – ON A RED HORSE (6:3,4).

    1. If the white horse represents a counterfeit man of peace, what does the red horse signify (6:4)? Red is the color of bloodshed. The antichrist will promise peace but will bring only war and bloodshed.
    2. Notice the Bible says he will "take peace from the earth…" (6:4; cf. Rev.13:4-10).
    3. Rev.6:4 says, "there was given unto him a great sword" (cf. 13:10). Our Lord said that we "shall hear of wars and rumors of wars" (Matt.24:4-8).
    4. Notice the Bible says, "and that they should kill one another" (Rev.6:4). Someone asked the poet T.S. Elliot how it will all end and he replied that people will go around shooting each other. We are starting to see this already with teenagers shooting down their fellow students in the public schools.
    5. The solution to this is not gun control. The solution is GOD. Parents and their children need to get right with God.

 

III. THE THIRD HORSEMAN – ON A BLACK HORSE (6:5,6).

    1. This rider is holding a pair of balances (scales – vs. 5), indicating a careful rationing of food.
    2. This third rider represents famine, which generally follows warfare. Some say, maybe very soon, there will be a worldwide famine, including the U.S.A.
    3. A penny (literally a "denarius") was a day’s wages at the time John wrote the book of revelation (cf. Matt.20:2). This prophecy is saying that it will cost a day’s wages for a measure of wheat (Rev. 6:6). In other words, a man will have to work all day for a loaf of bread or a bowl of barley soup. One can only imagine how difficult it will be to put gas in your car or purchase the basic necessities of life.
    4. Please look at the end of 6:6 – "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." Working class people will not be able to make ends meet. The hard-working family man will find it extremely difficult to provide for his wife and children. But the rich will still have their luxury items and their wine.
    5. The very rich will not be affected right away during the tribulation period but eventually they will be driven to desperation and madness (cf. 6:12-17).

 

IV. THE FOURTH HORSEMAN – ON A PALE HORSE (6:7,8).

    1. The pale horse is yellowish-green, a sickly color of death.
    2. Death is for the body of the unsaved, and hell is where their spirit goes.
    3. Both body and soul will be reunited to be cast into the Lake of Fire (Rev.20:11-15).
    4. According to the Bible, one-fourth of the world’s population will be wiped out by warfare, murder, hunger, famine, pestilence, plagues, loathsome diseases like AIDS, and so on (6:8).
    5. Wild beasts will roam around unrestrained at this time and will attack and kill anyone who gets in their way (6:8b).
    6. This will probably include vermin such as rats since they will be widespread with all of the poverty, famine, diseases, pestilence, and so forth.
    7. Our Lord said that this is only "the beginning of sorrows" (Matt.24:8). It will get so bad that men shall "seek death, and shall not find it" (Rev.9:6).

CONCLUSION:

  1. None of us knows how soon these events could occur. But we know the Bible is God’s Word and what it predicts shall surely come to pass.
  2. This world has rejected the grace of God, and they have rejected the Word of God, and they have rejected the Son of God. Therefore, they must soon face the judgment of God.
  3. Years ago, Bro. McCoy and I stopped for an Italian ice and the man at the counter tossed the tract right into the garbage can. Unless he repents, God is going to toss him into His garbage can. The Bible calls it "the lake of fire."
  4. And as bad as the tribulation will be, eternity in hell will be far worse (cf. Rev. 14:9-11).
  5. Unsaved friends: repent now before it is too late!




Pastor James J. Barker
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