The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Biblical Stories Explained)

or they appear to be many compelling figures in the Bible from the likes of the Leviathan to the ambiguity of the angels none stick out more to me in four figures that have come to represent pestilence famine war and death their parents in the Bible is a marginal one and yet their presence is something that has captivated many over the years so much so that the mere mention of their name inspires reverence caution and maybe even fear of course I'm talking about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse the four horsemen appear in the Bible during the book of Revelation a book that details the end times according to God which he tells to his servant John in Revelation 1 1 through the use of one of his angels in Revelation 1 9 through 17 John tells us that he heard a loud trumpet behind him and that when he turned around he saw what he described to be a son of man dressed in a robe with a golden sash so compelled by this figure whose eyes were blazing like fire John fell to his knees but the figure tells him not to be afraid and to write down everything that he says his account goes on for the next few chapters which sees the figure address several churches praising their efforts and reprimanding them on others once he is done he tells John to follow him and that he will show him what happens next John explains in Revelation 4 2 onwards that he was taken before a throne in heaven and that there was someone sitting in it a figure who had the appearance of Jasper and Ruby he tells us that a rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne and that there were twenty-four other Thrones surrounding the main one all of which were occupied by we describes as elders who were dressed in white and had golden crowns on their heads he describes his environment furthermore by saying that the throne produced flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder and that there were seven lamps blazing in front of the main throne lamps which he then details are the seven spirits of God amongst all of this is a lion an ox an eagle and a creature that has a face like a man all of which were covered with eyes and were equipped with a set of six wings it's here where John sees a glimpse of the figure in the main throne his right hand to be more precise and sees that a scroll has been produced with writing on both sides which was sealed with seven seals John tells us that the angel declares in five - who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll but that no one in heaven could open the scroll or even look inside of it a saddened by this John tells us that he wept but that he vents sees a lamb standing in the center of the throne the lamb has seven horns and seven eyes which we are told are the seven spirits of God that were sent out into all of earth the lamb appears to take the scroll from the right hand of the man in the throne and when it had taken it John tells us that the four creatures and the twenty-four elders all fell before the lamb and that the lamb was worshipped for having been worthy to receive the scroll but were do the four horsemen fit into all of this I hear you ask well the lamb proceeds to open the seven seals and John watches on as each seal is broken in six - he tells us I watched as the lamb opened the first seal of the seven seals I looked and there before me was a white horse its Rider held a bow and he was given a crown and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest in six three he tells us when the lamb opened the second seal another horse came out a fiery red one it's rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other to him was given a large sword in six five through six John tells us when the lamb opened the third seal I looked and there before me was a black horse its Rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures saying two pounds of wheat for a day's wages and six pounds of barley for a day's wages and do not damage the oil and the wine when the lamb opened the fourth seal John tells us that I looked and there before me was a pale horse its rider was named death and Hades was following close behind him they were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth it is these four riders who would become known as the four horsemen and going by their biblical descriptions you can see why they may have become so terrible to comprehend for the most part a common interpretation of these horsemen are that they represent a period of time where humans will be killed by a combination of wars disease famine and things of the like going about what the Bible says this seems to be pretty sound but with the first Horseman described as being bent on conquest the second being described as taking peace from the earth and making men slay each other the third representing high food prices with the creature voicing a poor bartering deal and a fourth a rightly being called death all four of these horsemen are summed up in the final line of 6-8 they were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword famine and plague and by wild beasts of the earth it becomes pretty obvious by this that the intentions of the horsemen are to wreak havoc and destruction upon the earth but that each of them will go up in a different way targeting humanity in the ways it will affect the most the very first horsemen sometimes referred to as the white rider or simply pestilence it's described as carrying a bow and wearing a Victor's crown a common interpretation of the white rider is that he's associated with the plague or infectious disease but a Bible does not seem to indicate this in the passage how the first horseman came to represent pestilence isn't exactly known though some will agree that the reference of plague in 6:8 likely corresponds to the first Horseman given that the other references sword famine and wild beasts may be easily attributed to the other three horsemen but this is still largely up for debate in a 1916 novel titled the full Horseman of the Apocalypse the white rider is described as bending his bow to spread pestilence and his arrows were infused with bacteria others see this white rider as Jesus Christ and that he is a representation of the spreading of his word and not of disease in fact it's understood that there was a time where many saw this first white rider as a benign figure one who was Christ or at least one who represented God similarly to an angel Christ does later appear on a white horse in Revelation 19 which may support the idea of this being Christ particularly when you consider the color white being a symbol of purity and righteousness the line that refers to the white rider wearing a crown can also be linked to Christ suggesting that Christ is the king of all men as well as the line that describes the white rider has been a conqueror in that Christ may be seen as the Conqueror of evil in a complete antithesis though many today view the white rider as not only the physical manifestation of pestilence but also the Antichrist himself the second Horseman the rider of the red horse is usually interpreted as representing war and this is easy to understand why given the line in six three that reads its rider was given power to take peace from the earth to make people kill each other the bluntness of this description leaves little room for misidentification we can quite clearly see that the second Horseman means business he does not in any way symbolize any form of goodness nor is he attributed with any redeeming qualities his objective is stated clearly that he is a menace and he wants to spill blood he's even presented with a sword in his description furthermore facilitating his intentions for violence and mass slaughter the fact that he's described as fiery also tells us that he is volatile that he is wild and then he's not the sort of character that one can negotiate with his red coloring is also quite powerful red being the colour of blood and that red can invoke or represent a certain anger or intensity in artwork the second Horseman is often seen holding his sword upwards which you might say mirrors the same sort of pose a commander might strike before ordering his troops to stage an attack others have since seen the second Horseman as a warrior more specifically a Roman warrior and that he represents the persecution of Christians by the Romans hence the red colour that may have been linked to the Roman god of war mars who incidentally was also associated with the color red the third Horseman the writer of the black horse is commonly referred to as famine and we understand this for a few reasons first of all John tells us that the third Horseman carries a pair of scales in his hand which may allude to the way in which food would be measured out during times of famine of all the horsemen though it is only the rider of the black horse that is accompanied by a voice which John hears from the four creatures that are present in heaven two pounds of wheat for a day's wages and six pounds of barley for a day's wages and do not damage the oil and the wine they announced and given the meager amounts that are suggested here for a day's worth of wages it's clear to see how this Horseman came to represent famine it's implied that under these conditions of trade one would certainly struggle to sustain themselves let alone their families do not damage the oil and wine the creature announces at the end of the sentence and by this it can be derived that while the price of wheat and barley increases the price of oil and wine remains the same leading some to believe that this is because oil and wine were commodities of the rich and that it would furthermore increase the divide between the wealthy and the poor which would generate resentment it implies that the rich will maintain that which they have and continue to thrive but the poor will suffer more and more something you might say is happening today in terms of standards of living by this some argue that the divide between the rich and the poor is a direct correlation to how far along we are to these end times and that if the divide continues it may warrant a visit from famine and the other horsemen first triggering the cycle of the end times another case is that the oil and wine are left alone to serve as a cruel irony that may torture mankind that while they can keep their wine and possibly even drink themselves into a state of merriment they will still die as a result of starvation furthermore wine and oil are not necessities to human nutrition but wholesome wheat and other crops at the time would have been writen by this the ignoring of oil and wine is simply because the horseman knows that humans can live without it and therefore doesn't bother try to take it away from them others see the fact of oil and wine being left alone so that Christianity can be preserved given our oil and wine are both used in some sacraments and worship the fourth Horseman who writes The Pale Horse is simply named as death and he is the only of the horsemen who has given a name I looked and there before me was a pale horse it's rider was named death and Hades was following close behind him they were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword famine and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth you may also notice based on the passage death is the only Horseman who does not come equipped with something in his hands whether this be a weapon or otherwise you might say that death is the weapon himself instead he is accompanied by Hades which in Christian beliefs is a state of place of departed spirits and not the Greek god of the underworld although that might have looked pretty cool some illustrations see death carrying a scythe though the Bible makes no mention of this death may be the most mysterious of the horsemen given he doesn't have much of a description in fact the only thing that is really described about him is his horse which is pale which many may attribute to the color of a corpse the deaths row appears to be quite obvious he is there to either kill or to collect the souls of the dead an interesting idea is that deaths presence is here to seek out the Romans and along with the other horsemen are to bring about the judgment of God the death in this case isn't just a mortal death but also a death of an era more specifically the death or dissolution of the Roman Empire meanwhile the wild beasts which are noted at the end of the sentence may refer to the inhabitants of the earth once mankind has been wiped out in our absence animals would have the lay of the land and it would be these wild beasts that dominate the face of the earth in a similar way that dinosaurs once did it's actually quite poetic that despite man's achievements in civilization and technology eventually mankind will expire a nature will reclaim that which has lost due to our expansion as a species many Christians believe today that the horsemen will come to earth in either their physical form or the forms of pestilence war famine and death which incidentally you might say we are certainly seen a lot of it with this thinking that many believers of this idea believe that the end times are in fact upon us others even associate the Four Horseman with the Archangels Michael Gabriel Raphael and Uriel and this may be due to the non-canonical biblical book of enoch which shows the Archangels coming down to earth and destroying the Watchers and Nephilim others believe that the four horsemen have already come and that evidence of their presence has been documented throughout history for example you might associate the crusades with that of the first Horseman in terms of conquest all you may associate pretty much every war that's ever happened with that of the second Horseman others look to the great famine of the 14th century as a connection to the third Horseman but of course these are likely just coincidences given that the horsemen are considered to represent the end times and we're still very much here for now perhaps then it is a cautionary tale and we are being drip fed some of the punishments that we fussed upon us by what the Bible describes as the end times we understand that the Book of Revelations has served believers since the earliest times as a warning to walk in a righteous path and to be humble in the eyes of God as well as to go the wicked interchange in their ways lest they face pestilence war famine and death but let me know what you think about each of the four horsemen and some of the tales you've heard regarding these imposing threatening figures have these calamities that are colorfully detailed in the Bible already befallen us as we've seen in many disasters across the world or is this just a preview of what is in store when the seven seals are eventually broken let me know your thoughts in the comments below and as always if you've enjoyed today's video be sure to give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe until the next time guys

Channel: The Legends of History

Views: 1,432,356

Keywords: The Four Horseman, Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, Legends of History, Bibilcal Stories Explained, Who are the four horseman?, Seven Seals, Bible

Id: MH35yzmM2oU

Length: 17min 15sec (1035 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 13 2019