Revelation, Stephen Picklesimer [summer reading list .txt] 📗

for what this horse and the others represent. But, once again, the Bible interprets the Bible. We must permit Christ to explain what He is unsealing! No one else has any authority to speak for what God gave to Christ—and authorized Him to reveal!
Christ Interprets
Christ reveals the meaning of the white horse. Recall that His disciples asked Him in Matthew 24, “…when shall these things [the destruction of the temple] be? and what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?” (vs. 3).
Understand that Christ is speaking in both Matthew 24 and Revelation 6. He is addressing the very same questions in both chapters. He answers His disciples by listing, in time sequence and order, the events and trends that precede the end of the age—and thus His Coming.
Now notice that there is an exact parallel between Revelation 6:1-2 and Matthew 24:4-5: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My Name, saying, I am Christ [that Christ is Christ]; and shall deceive MANY.” That’s right! Christ warned that the many will be deceived by those who claim to represent Him—not the few.
The white horse that John described represents false “christs.” Here is proof. The one sitting on this horse is actually a counterfeit of the true Christ and a counterfeit of His Second Coming, described in Revelation 19:11-16. There, the real Christ wields a sharp two-edged SWORD, while the false christ is represented as carrying a BOW. Do not overlook this critical difference!
Here is a partial description of the true Christ returning in great power and glory. While it does show Him riding a white horse, the rest of the description is very different: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war...And out of His mouth goes A SHARP SWORD, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall RULE THEM with a rod of iron: and He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (vs. 11, 15).
Consider for a moment. Most who study Revelation believe that the white horse of the first seal pictures the true Christ coming before war, famine, and disease, etc., strike the earth. How ridiculous! Such ignorance and misunderstanding has clouded the timing of the glorious Return of Jesus Christ described in Revelation 19:11-16. This is but one more way that false religion—the other white horse—has deceived professing Christianity.
Parallel Chapters
Before proceeding, let’s read more of Christ’s answer to His disciples in Matthew 24. It will prepare us to further see the precise parallel between it and Revelation 6.
Carefully notice: “And you shall hear of WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be FAMINES, and PESTILENCES, and earthquakes, in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (vs. 6-8).
Christ gives a direct answer to a direct question. The events He describes require no interpretation. As a matter of fact, they are CHRIST’S INTERPRETATION of Revelation 6. By having them in mind as we read the opening of the remaining seals, we have Christ telling us in advance what we are viewing—and what the symbols mean. All mystery is stripped away.
The same Christ would not give two different versions of what happens immediately prior to His Return. He would not tell one thing to His disciples of the first century, and give an entirely different explanation to His servants of the twenty-first century! This should be obvious.
But, it is important to understand that only NOW, after almost 2,000 years, can the book of Revelation be opened up to plain understanding for all those who will heed. The words have always been there, but their meaning has been “sealed till the time of the end.”
Grasp what you have just read!
In effect, Christ has given an advance newscast—newspaper headlines—of events now lying just ahead. Matthew 24, coupled with Mark 13 and Luke 21, comprise what is commonly called “The Olivet Prophecy,” because Christ delivered it while sitting with His disciples on the Mount of Olives. The entirety of these three chapters contains much more information than just Matthew 24:3-8. But we are not yet ready to discuss it.
In John 1, Christ is referred to as “the Word.” Compare verse 1 and verse 14. “The Word” is translated from the Greek word logos, meaning “Spokesman.” Actually, Jesus Christ not only inspired Matthew 24 and Revelation 6, but also the entire Bible!
For those with “eyes to see and ears to hear,” in Matthew 24, Christ is revealing in plain language the true meaning of the SYMBOLS recorded in Revelation 6.
Understanding the last sentence is the single biggest KEY to understanding the entire book of Revelation!
Parables are much like symbols. Both are different from the actual things or figures being described. As explained, while most believe that Christ spoke in parables to illustrate His meaning, He said otherwise in Mark 4:10-12, when discussing the parable of the Sower and the Seed. The real reason Christ spoke in parables was to HIDE His meaning. The same is true of symbols! It is the use of these symbols in Revelation 6 that kept the prophecy locked—sealed!
If you read the account in Mark, you will find that Christ explains the Parable of the Sower privately to His disciples. This is exactly what He did in Matthew 24. He explained privately to His disciples then, and for His disciples of the end time, the meaning of the Revelation 6 symbols.
When the disciples wanted to understand the events that would precede Christ’s Return, they asked HIM, not some uninformed churchman or theologian who could have no idea what he is talking about.
You can do the same. Christ is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). What He revealed to the disciples long ago is just as true for us today! And the events are prophesied to occur in our time. So, if the first-century disciples desired to know the answer to their question of Matthew 24:3, how much MORE should today’s disciples want to plainly understand what will directly affect their lives?
Understand one final point about Christ’s explanation of the opening of the seals. Each represents a prophetic trend that begins and remains continuous from the moment it is opened, all the way to His Second Coming.
In II Corinthians 11:13-15, Paul recorded how false ministers (or false christs) do their work—deluding, deceiving and causing vast numbers of people to accept counterfeit christs (vs. 4). While this has been happening for 2,000 years, all but the few—to whom Christ is revealing His precious truth—are completely oblivious! This includes deceitful misrepresentation of the entire book of Revelation. (Read our free booklet The White Horse – “Many Shall Come in My Name…” to see a much more detailed explanation of the white horse.)
False ministers and deceivers were prophesied to delude the “many”—not the “few.”
Almost immediately after Christ’s death and resurrection, false ministers and deceivers entered His true flock. This is the very reason why He warned each of the seven eras of chapters two and three with separate messages.
The Second Seal—WAR
When the second seal opens, a red horse appears: “And when He had opened the SECOND SEAL, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword” (Rev. 6:3-4). As with Christ in Revelation 19, the sword here is depicted as an instrument of war and killing.
This horse and rider “take peace from the earth.” The opposite of peace is war. When peace is removed, war is what remains. This pictures the “wars and rumors of wars” that Christ referenced in Matthew 24:6.
Wars have continued and grown steadily worse since the time of Christ’s prophecy. But this part of John’s astounding vision has the gravest implications for all alive on earth today.
This horseman represents the dreadful destruction of world war. In the Matthew 24 parallel prophecy, war immediately follows false religion. By the end of the age, the potential for devastation in war has become so great that it holds the power to take peace not just from two or more nations, but now “from the earth.”
Only in the modern age have such terrible weapons of mass destruction been available. The twentieth century saw the two most devastating wars in history, with World War II far more destructive than World War I.
We are now in the last recess—intermission—preceding the time of the truly greatest war, prophesied to exceed anything in the last century. A sinning, rebellious humanity will soon reach the end of its rope. We have reached a time when war’s potential cannot grow worse, but can now erase all life from earth in one final blast of complete destruction—if Christ did not intervene and cut events “short” (vs. 22). (Read our free booklet The Red Horse – “You Shall Hear of Wars…” to understand more thoroughly about what Christ meant by this warning.)
But the pattern of history is that famine always follows war. This is why famine (the third seal) follows on the heels of war (the second seal).
The Third Seal—FAMINE
The third seal opens and a black horse, a symbol of famine, appears: “And when He had opened the THIRD SEAL, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. 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 beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see you hurt not the oil and the wine” (Rev. 6:5-6).
This pictures extreme worldwide famine, beyond anything civilization has ever seen. This devouring condition is seizing the entire world in an extraordinary way. Famine is now far worse than most imagine. (Read our extensive free booklet The Black Horse – “There Shall Be Famines…”.)
The Fourth Seal—DISEASE
The opening of the fourth seal reveals a pale horse, which represents pestilence or disease: “And when He had opened the FOURTH SEAL, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (vs. 7-8).
This horse is depicted as pale because it is sickly. It obviously represents disease—pestilence! Invariably, war leads to famine—and resulting malnutrition leads to disease. New diseases, or old ones grown worse, seem to be appearing almost daily. The death toll from disease around the world is staggering—now around 82,000 die every day! As with the fulfillment of the other seals, there is far more information available about disease than could begin to fit in this booklet. (Read our well-researched free booklet The Pale Horse – “There Shall Be Pestilences…” to understand more about the growing worldwide suffering in the wake of the pale horse.)
The Fifth Seal—THE GREAT TRIBULATION
The opening of the fifth seal does not reveal a horse. Instead, it briefly overviews the soon-to-come worst time of world trouble in history (Matt. 24:21)—the Great Tribulation!
Again, many prophecies in both the Old and New