And I saw when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come!" Rev. 6:1.
The four horsemen herald the horrors of war, famine, and pestilence. The language seems to go back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 32, which list these three plagues among the consequences of breaking the Mosaic covenant. In Revelation 6 they express the results of rejecting Jesus and the salvation He provides.
In Western countries things such as famine and pestilence (contagious disease) may seem like distant realities. They occur mainly in "benighted" corners of the world that make the news but rarely get visited. If we are to truly grasp the dread that these images must have evoked when first written, we need to consider analogies that lie closer to home.
Many people, even in Western countries, are only a paycheck or two away from missing house or rent payments. With corporations downsizing and markets shifting, few jobs are secure, even in corporate America. It takes only a small downturn in the economy to bring a hint of apocalyptic dread into the lives of many people.
When I was 17 years old I started working for a temporary agency. It sent me with a couple other men to unload 1,100 doors from a boxcar. The workforce of the agency largely consisted of "drunks" and "college kids." My boxcar companions were of the former variety. One was 35 years old and the other 47. Both began to get the "shakes" around 11:00 in the morning. The older man would often sneak away from the work site to get a beer.
Fascinated by the two of them, I did some investigating. I discovered that the younger man was a nuclear physicist and the older one an engineer. In fact, the latter had been a supervisor of the construction of Henderson Field on the island of Guadalcanal, one of he most famous Pacific battlefield sites of World War II.
Both men had started life with high hopes and great achievements. But then the riders of "war, famine, and pestilence" invaded their lives. The gruesome plague of alcohol shattered their families and reduced the men to miserable hulks of humanity. Eking out a bare subsistence in the midst of plenty totally consumed their lives.
Tragedy is no stranger to even the wealthiest of societies. We all need the Lamb to survive.
Lord, the seals and trumpets have baffled the best interpreters for 2,000 years. I have often wondered why You included materials like this in Your Word. As we begin examining these "plagues," give me a clearer picture of Your purpose for these images. Use these plagues to enlighten my mind to the way You see our world.
The four horsemen herald the horrors of war, famine, and pestilence. The language seems to go back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 32, which list these three plagues among the consequences of breaking the Mosaic covenant. In Revelation 6 they express the results of rejecting Jesus and the salvation He provides.
In Western countries things such as famine and pestilence (contagious disease) may seem like distant realities. They occur mainly in "benighted" corners of the world that make the news but rarely get visited. If we are to truly grasp the dread that these images must have evoked when first written, we need to consider analogies that lie closer to home.
Many people, even in Western countries, are only a paycheck or two away from missing house or rent payments. With corporations downsizing and markets shifting, few jobs are secure, even in corporate America. It takes only a small downturn in the economy to bring a hint of apocalyptic dread into the lives of many people.
When I was 17 years old I started working for a temporary agency. It sent me with a couple other men to unload 1,100 doors from a boxcar. The workforce of the agency largely consisted of "drunks" and "college kids." My boxcar companions were of the former variety. One was 35 years old and the other 47. Both began to get the "shakes" around 11:00 in the morning. The older man would often sneak away from the work site to get a beer.
Fascinated by the two of them, I did some investigating. I discovered that the younger man was a nuclear physicist and the older one an engineer. In fact, the latter had been a supervisor of the construction of Henderson Field on the island of Guadalcanal, one of he most famous Pacific battlefield sites of World War II.
Both men had started life with high hopes and great achievements. But then the riders of "war, famine, and pestilence" invaded their lives. The gruesome plague of alcohol shattered their families and reduced the men to miserable hulks of humanity. Eking out a bare subsistence in the midst of plenty totally consumed their lives.
Tragedy is no stranger to even the wealthiest of societies. We all need the Lamb to survive.
Lord, the seals and trumpets have baffled the best interpreters for 2,000 years. I have often wondered why You included materials like this in Your Word. As we begin examining these "plagues," give me a clearer picture of Your purpose for these images. Use these plagues to enlighten my mind to the way You see our world.
RSS Feed
