Day 108

“Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come!” Rev 6.1 NASB.

The four horsemen herald the horrors of war, famine, and pestilence that will span the years from John’s day to ours. The language seems to go back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 32, where these three plagues are among the consequences of breaking the Mosaic covenant. In Revelation 6 they express the consequences of rejecting Jesus and the salvation He provides. 

In Western countries, things like famine and pestilence (contagious disease) may have seemed like distant realities until recently. They usually occur mainly in “benighted” corners of the world that make the news but are rarely visited. If we are to truly experience the dread that these images must have evoked when they were first written, we need to consider analogies that lie closer to home. 

Many people, even in Western countries, are only a paycheque or two away from missing house or rent payments. With corporations downsizing and markets shifting, few jobs are secure, even in the corporate world. It takes only a small downturn in the economy to bring a hint of apocalyptic dread into the experience of many people. Are we not witnessing this before our very eyes at the covid19 moment? 

When the riders of “war, famine, and pestilence” invaded lives through the gruesome plague of alcohol, for example, families are shattered and highly intelligent people can be reduced to miserable hulks of humanity. Lives can be totally consumed with eking out a bare subsistence in the midst of plenty. 

Tragedy is no stranger to even the wealthiest of societies. We all need the Lamb to survive. As we begin examining these “plagues” as portrayed in Revelation 6 and 7 pray for a clearer picture of God’s purpose for these images. May He Use these plagues to enlighten our minds to the way He sees our world.