The fourth horseman

Wednesday September 8, 2021

The fourth horseman

I looked and saw a greenish horse. His name was Death, and Hades was with him. They were given power over a quarter of the earth to kill men by the sword, by famine, by pestilence, and by wild beasts. Revelation 6:8 King James Version

The first three horsemen bring wars, anarchy, famine, disorganization of society, which we have been examining in recent weeks. The fourth is Death which undoubtedly leads to an increase in mortality in a territory, limited certainly (a quarter of the earth), but large enough to have repercussions on our entire planet.

The prophet Ezekiel speaks of the four disastrous judgments of the Lord (Ezekiel 14:21) : the sword, the famine, the evil beasts and the pestilence. Wars and famine have already entered the scene.

The term wild beasts characterizes well the gangs of looters as we have seen them in troubled periods of history, such as the great wars in Europe, or now in parts of Africa. They are people without faith or law who, worse than wild beasts, kill and destroy everything in their path.

As for the plague, it designates the epidemics which almost always follow major human catastrophes (cholera, typhus) or those which are the consequences of physical or moral misery (tuberculosis, AIDS). Perhaps in addition to these plagues will be epidemics caused by bacteriological attacks caused by human wickedness.

What interval of time will separate the interventions of these horsemen of misfortune ? We are not told this, but we can assume that it will be much reduced. Perhaps even these trials will occur at the same time, and it will only take a few years for the dire conditions described above to bring about significant and dreadful social, economic and political changes.

Today, people pride themselves on their intelligence, on the progress of science and technology, on their autonomy from God. Many publicly reject any inheritance of Judeo-Christian morality. This arrogance will not make them able to master this apocalyptic situation.

Let us all remain lucid about the precariousness of the world today and strengthen our expectation of the very imminent return of the Lord !

Source (Pleasing the Lord)