Chapter 6 of the book of Revelation is best known for the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Indeed they are important and I will be going into great detail explaining what they are tasked on doing. The first horseman is the white, verse one,
1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.”
2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Now, when most people think of the word conquering, they think of Alexander the Great, or Hitler. They usually think of somebody who takes something by force. There are many different ideas on who the first rider is, some say he is Jesus, some say he was Hitler. Without a doubt, the white horseman, named Victory, is the most disputed about because people don't know if he is good or bad.
HE IS BAD. And here's why: The first rider could not in fact be Jesus because Jesus is in heaven opening the other 6 seals in heaven. If you think about it logically, the first horsemen must be like the rest of the horsemen because you can't have 3 evil horsemen and 1 good.
It is quite possible that the first horseman is the Antichrist. Why? Because later on in Revelation John writes that the Antichrist will be accepted by all people. How is this possible though? If he arrives as a Jew or a Christian, the other major world religions will reject him. Likewise, if he arrives as a Hindu or a Buddhist, he will be rejected by the Muslims, Christians and Jews. And, if he arrives as a Muslim, he will receive the same rejection from the other religions. How can he arrive in a manner that will make 500 million Buddhists, two billion Christians, one billion Hindus, one and a half billion Muslims and millions of Jews all welcome him as their mutual leader? His appearance will obviously have to involve some apparently supernatural or miraculous signs in order to attain this worldwide acceptance throughout all of earth's major world religions.
This is the perfect opportunity for him to make his appearance, because he is not mentioned to be coming any other way, only that he will be accepted by all people. Not to mention the fact that he will get EVERYONE on his side. THIS is the way he will conquer the world, through PEACE!
Moving on to the next horseman, verse 3:
3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.”
4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
The second rider (appropriately named "War") is the "Red" rider. Obviously, the color red is symbolic to the color of blood. This suggests that A LOT of blood will be spilled, it could be a reference to the battle of Armageddon later on.
5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
The word denarius means a days pay, or however much you are paid on a daily basis.
Now, when most people read verse 6 they don't understand the symbolism behind the wheat/barley and oil/wine. Wheat and barley symbolize the earthly, sinful system. Oil and wine represent God's blessings.
The black horseman represents famine. He was directed to make the basic necessities of earthly life scarce (harm the earthly political and religious system) but not to diminish God's blessings or harm His worship.
Jesus Himself was not mentioned in these specific words, but the entire book of Revelation is about the revelation of Jesus in His full glory and power to the entire world.
And finally, the fourth and final horseman. Death, verse 7:
7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.”
8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
In the year 2009, according to the US Census Bureau there were appoximatly 6.75 billion people on earth.
Now imagine, when Death comes, ONE QUARTER, or 25% of the world's population would be gone. If he would hav come in 2009, that would be approximatly 1.7 billion people dead. There have been other deadly plauges in the past, but none hole even a candle to what the Pale rider will bring.
Death, by far, has the most power over all of the other horsemen. He is the only horseman given a name in the bible, and he is the only one not gievn a weapon, but rather, he is given power to kill with the sword, with famine, death, and the animals of the earth.
-----This ends the explanation of the four horsemen-----
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