Come and See
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
With, admittedly, no hard scriptural evidence, it still makes the most human sense that when Jesus takes the book from the right hand of the Ancient of days, He would in a single sitting break open the seven seals. Not a protracted 2,000 year seal-opening ceremony, but a single sitting event some 19 centuries ago. What we see today are the long protracted results of that event. Before John's very eyes he sees what that voice had said was: "things which must be hereafter". Jesus had already told John to write:
1.) the things which thou hast seen.
2.) the things which are.
3.) the things which shall be hereafter.
We start with the four " Come and see " horsemen. At each seal John must be told to come...and once there...to see.
Thunder announces the white horse of the first broken seal. Thunder is the prolonged after-sound of lightening. With the breaking of this seal the rider bolts from his holding cell like lightening, rolling across the landscape as thunder. The rider has an archers bow and he is given a crown. Not only does he go forth conquering and to conquer, but perhaps more importantly, he never returns as in the bottom of Zechariah.
From our own late perspective how perfectly this matches with Satan's propensity to strike at beginnings...in the garden of creation, in the earthly ministry of my Lord, and here shortly after the birth of the new covenant church. This rider conquered at his release 1900 years ago, and continues to ride and conquer today. The tares sowed shortly after the birth of the new testament church have grown in size and in respect and social standing, until as overspreading trees these denominations blanket the entire landscape. They have grown for 1900 years. The apostolic Jesus name church of Acts...the greatest of all of my Lord's many creations...becomes just one of thousands of ecclesiastic disciplines, even though it is the only true and right one. After 1900 years the true gospel from scripture, and true doctrine from scripture, are much the rare exception rather than the rule. So did my Lord at the very start of his
Matthew 24 prophecy, and repeated often, command us: " let no man deceive you ".
The white horse rider comes with an army of spirits and underlings long trapped by the seal. This force has influenced global religious activities, the birth of Islam and charismatic liberalism, and all the branches of Luther, Calvin, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, the many Orthodox's, Baptist, Presbyterian, and all the twigs that sprout from these. What we witness today is the " and to conquer " of the white horse who never returned. Every false denomination born after Pentecost are the handiwork of this white horse rider. He is spiritual deception and cunning, and he is nearing the end of his ride. None today can argue his success...look around you...nor deny him his crown.
The red horse of the second seal is the spirit of war released upon the earth some 1900 years ago. Power is given to him to take peace from the earth, that men should kill one another. He too rides with an army of underlings and spirits. Since the birth of the church nearly 2,000 years ago there have been over 275 documented wars killing over a half billion souls across our planet. Men killing one another...violently, brutally, and painfully. The red horse rider has wielded well his great sword after at last being freed from the binding of his seal. He still looms large on the horizon today, because he also has never returned as in the bottom by the myrtle.
The black horse of the third seal is a spirit of famine released upon the world 1900 years ago. The history is long and horrifying, as over 350 million souls have starved to death since the birth of church. This rider also never returns as in the bottom, and still rides today. Every war from the second rider brings a famine from the third rider.
The last " Come and see " of the fourth seal introduces John to a pale horse who's rider is named death. Unlike the previous three riders, this rider has a partner riding with him. The partner's name is hell. These two...death and hell...are given power over one fourth of the earth. Today that would roughly number 1.7 billion souls. Their power is to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the field. Again from our perspective the history of this past 1900 years is long and horrifying. Just one example is the Black Death associated with the Mongol expansion, wherein over 200 million souls lost their lives.
Adding these all up, the bottom line is that every since Jesus loosed these four spirits some 1900 years ago, they have wreaked havoc across the planet. Billions upon billions of souls have died...lost without God...and nearly the entire world is deceived at the hands of these four horsemen. They and their armies have fulfilled their mission, and it is found in our own history books.
The four horsemen of Revelation gain latitude if we consider also the four horses of Zechariah. There in the first chapter, the angel speaking with Zechariah...rather than answering directly his question of what these four horses mean...instead turns Zechariah's attention to the red horse rider, who explains:
these are they whom the Lord has sent to walk through the earth.
He further explains to Zechariah in the sixth chapter:
these are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.
Revelation's fourth horseman is different from the other three, in that he rides with a partner. In Zechariah the four colored horses go forth from the Lord. The black horse goes North, and the white horse follows after him. The grisled horse goes South. But the fourth horse is different from the other three. The bay horse, instead of going in some certain direction, instead seeks permission for all four chariots to walk to and fro through the earth. Though they have come from standing before the very Lord of all the earth, yet must this permission be granted to walk to and fro through the earth. Permission is then granted...go, walk to and fro through the earth.
Perhaps of significance is that Zechariah's four horses return, while Revelation's do not. They return as from a covert mission to their commander, and report to the angel of the Lord, saying:
we have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
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