The Lord said that Satan is not only a thief, but he is also a murderer. And we're seeing that. because they have welcomed His ideologies with glee. We're living that, you know, that whole woke thing right out of hell. And you see how people just gobbled it up.
And now we're seeing some of the consequences of that. And all of that. is little league stuff. compared to what's coming. Mm.
Ooh. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
Horseman of Horror is the title of Pastor Rick's message, and today he'll be teaching in Revelation chapter 6.
Well, this is the third horse. Supply chains collapse. Economic strife. Famine. the worst global financial collapse ever known to man.
The upper class may escape some of that. The opening of this third seal brings a revelation. that there will be needs unmet Necessities will become scarce worldwide. Mark Chapter 13: For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be earthquakes in various places. And there will be famines and troubles.
These are the beginnings of sorrows.
Well, what happens when these earthquakes start taking out bridges and overpasses and trusses and seaports? What happens when internet uh inter internet? Interstate trucking stops. And your supplies run out, your neighbors are trying to kill you to get the meat you rightfully got on your own. You can see the Cataclysmic events unfolding.
Jesus is saying Look. You better believe this. I don't have to lie to you, and I don't lie. This is what's going to happen. It says here, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.
So this black horse comes riding on the scene. The rider is holding scales. It's all symbolic. And here they speak of rationing. We know that.
Because he tells us. about the wheat. And the measurements of the wheat and the barley. Lines for petrol. lines for The necessities of life, load shedding.
That's, you know, when you get blackouts in one neighborhood because the grid can't, the electric, you can't supply enough electricity, so you've got to give blackouts over here to give that South Africa's been going through that for some time now. They cannot support. The city without This load shedding. It will be an energy crisis to go along with these other things, which isn't too big of a deal if you live in a tropical place. But if you live in a place where it's subject to snow and cold and freezing, it's a very big deal.
So Jesus said in Mark 13, verse 18: and pray that your flight may not be in winter. You see how all these things just kind of go like they kind of tie in together. There are some things that are enigmas still, but and I'm coming to one of them. A court of wheat. For a denauris.
Inflated prices is what's happening here. A Homer No, wait a minute, that's not right. A homer's in baseball. Homer Yeah. Th the the historian, the writer, in his Odyssey, says that a generaris is a day's pay for a a laborer.
So that gives us a little scale to work with. And we'll go with that one. That's an ancient. scale.
Well, that would mean that these are famine prices, a quart of wheat for a day's pay. 10 or 12 times the normal rate, if not more. Widespread hunger and starvation. Remember, a quarter of the earth. As we stood and we read that part in verse 8, we'll come to it in a little bit.
Armies at war may be straining the food supply so that they can feed themselves. is taking over. Using it for armies and the people can can suffer. That would impact the supply chain. Three quarts of barley for a denares.
Well, wheat is three times more than the barley.
So he's saying the good stuff is going to be very expensive, and not so good stuff will still be expensive. The situation would be such that One would have to spend all their money to survive, and they wouldn't leave much else for anything else. And he says, And do not harm the oil and the wine.
Now here's the enigma. In John's day, these were essentials. Oil was used to light lamps. One of the plagues that God hit Pharaoh with in Egypt was darkness. It's been said.
that the Jews feared darkness more than anything. And in that ancient world, Well, in that world, oil, again, without it, you've got no light. Because we think of olive and the Greek is olive oil. We think of olive oil, we think of salad, I think. Anyway, the wine, also a necessity.
There were places where the water wasn't good and you had to cut it.
Well, you had to cut the wine, you mix it with the water. Paul gave that advice to Timothy. He wasn't saying, hey, it's okay to drink wine, just water it down so you don't get, look, I know you've got some stomach issues there, because the water's bad.
So from now on, Drink wine, but put water, you know, cut it down. And and that that's make made it a necessity. in many places of the world.
Well The military is likely not going to be going after the oil, and we've got to have our salad on the battlefield. I mean, that's not going to be going on. And that may be why there's this abundance of oil and wine, and it's not touched. It's anybody's guess. Historically, However, what it also could mean is that the rich can still get this stuff.
The upper class, the luxuries. If you look at oil and wine today, it's more of a luxury than a necessity. The barley and the wheat were necessities at exorbitant prices. prices I don't know if this is saying, you know, don't touch the oil and wine, but the real stuff that you need, you won't have. It's kind of like going to the pantry when.
In between shopping days, when you've exhausted your supplies, and there's the mustard and the mayo, but the condiments, but no food. I don't know about you, but I see mustard and ketchup. I want a hamburger if I'm really hungry, and it's just nothing here but that. Maybe it means that. I don't know.
But I can say that Spain is today's largest exporter. of olive oil. and their neighbor, France, is the largest exporter of wine.
Well, that would make you say, well, maybe The violence is not in those regions yet. And so they're still producing and exporting, and the armies don't need the olive oil and the. And the wine To function, maybe that's some of what's going on here.
Well, you say, well, if we can't pin it down, what's the sense of talking about it?
Well, here it is. When these things happen, Those there are going to be people that will discover this is in the Bible. and they will convert. and their conversion will be serious. They will die.
Rather than worship the Antichrist along with everybody else, most of the world is going to think Antichrist is going to save them from all these horrors. It's going to be like the poison that you drink that makes you thirsty. And the more you drink it, the deader you become. That's how I want to say it. Verse 7.
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come and see.
So God is saying, through all of these horses coming on the scene, He wants us to see. This is something he wants us to think through. Whether we get a hundred or on the test On oil. Or not, you know, you can't all be like me. Uh He still wants us to investigate it.
It's energy well spent. Because when you study prophecy, if you do it the right way, you're forced. You're forced to deal with the facts as best you can. You can't let your feelings get away from you.
Well, it's very hard to do that, right? When you're invested in something.
Well, anyway, this verse 7. The fourth seal, he heard a voice saying from the fourth living creature saying, Come and see. What's coming next is widespread death. fa and famine on the earth Beyond the battlefields, beyond the civilians around the battlefields. outside of the war zones.
Death is not abated. That's the point. The judgment described with this fourth seal is unparalleled. And yet in the midst of it God is leaving a record behind to say to those people living. Don't blame me.
You brought this on yourself. This is the judgment. You can repent out of it or not. It's similar to what's happening today, it's just without the drama. God is still saying to mankind, don't blame me, and mankind is still becoming bitter at God.
Well, we're going to get to that at the end of this chapter one of these days. Verse 8, So I looked and behold a pale horse. and the name of him who sat on it was death. And Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword with hunger, with death.
and by the beast of the earth.
Well, the Greek word translated pale. Pale. is chloros, where we get our English word chlorine or chloride I have chlorine. And uh It is described as pale. Because it is the pale green that is being spoken of like young vegetation, but that's not the idea.
It just gives us what color palette we're working with. It is the pale green of a cadaver. That's the context. Not the verdant fields that we read about in Mark's gospel when Jesus had them sit down in the fields before he was going to feed the multitudes, and not when we come to Revelation 8. This green, the use, this is a green horse, it is a pale green horse, and it symbolizes death, and we don't have to guess because it tells us.
That he comes, power was given to this rider on this horse to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death. A fourth of the earth. We don't see green horses. Not alive. The Wizard of Oz, as a scene, I think the cause turns purple and green, but of course, that's.
That really happened.
Okay. Anyway. This is not natural, this is the idea. This is an unearthly colour because these are unearthly events. It's supernatural.
There's other things involved. Gog and Magog, it's not just people hating on the Jews. This has been elevated. You've got demons now involved, which, as we go through the revelation, we will find a heightened activity, unlike ever before, of demonic activity. I'll come to the billions of dead in a little bit.
This horseman brings The dying, and thus the rider is named death, personified. Death is personified as riding a horse. Hades is also personified as following. And the policies of the wicked rulers have landed man right here. They got what they wanted, a world unrestrained by Jesus.
We finally got rid of those Bible-preaching fundamentalist Christians. We finally got rid of them.
Okay, you've got the world you wanted. Jesus is not interfering. With your madness at this point. And the name of him who sat on it was death, and Hades followed with him.
Now, Hades represents afterlife.
So you have the death, that's physical life, but that ain't the end of you. whoever you may be. For the Christian death is paradise But for the unbeliever, it is separation from Christ to a hell forever.
Now, how God works all that out is His business. But what is our business is how He's told us to preach the gospel. that there are consequences for rejecting his son. That's what we preach, that's what we believe. Whatever else happens after that is in his hand.
He is merciful, but he is also just. The worst thing that can befall a human being is not death. It is what they're going to face at judgment if they're not ready for death. And death riding in on this fourth hor horseman here. With Hades following, is the Bible saying, look, don't think all of this bad stuff on earth is the end of the story.
Because after these multitudes have been wiped out, they still have to stand in judgment. That's the second death that Revelation will talk about in later chapters. And so this evokes this fact. These two forces are taking over the world at this time. They are dominant features in the world.
And the physical death does not end the conscious existence of man. Verse continuing, the power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword.
Well, there are That by today's numbers, I don't know, it's 8.6 billion. people that is believed to be on earth right now. By this number, if it's talking about deaths of people, that's two billion people. Hard to get our heads around that, except that's more more deaths than adding up all the people who've died in war since the First World War to now. It be impossible to bury these many dead people.
There is the outside chance that he may be limiting this to a quarter of the earth geographically, where all of this stuff is taking place. Still The carnage would produce billions. Uh it's it's just a very ugly scene. Death will overtake wicked humanity. The wrath of God?
Includes allowing evil to punish itself. In God's wrath at this time in history, He is going to allow evil to turn on itself. Thus the world wars. This is the true path of a thriving depravity. It's one thing to be depraved.
It's another thing. for it to be out of control. throughout the world. Again, I refer to Ezekiel God speaking. Through the prophet, I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all my mountains, says.
The Lord Yahweh, every man's sword will be against his brother.
Well They have brought this judgment on themselves. They have been the instigators. That caused this unnecessary suffering and death. The Antichrist And a humanity that rejoices over him will actually worship him, they have collectively provoked Jesus, provoked God. Daniel chapter 8.
When the transgressors have reached their fullness. God is saying there's a line in the sand. I know where it is. And when that happens, I'm going to act in judgment. And this is what we're reading.
Later At the fifth trumpet. Another Third of Earth's population will die. That's Revelation 9, verses 15 and 18.
So that would add another 2.5 billion people. to this I believe it is talking about people and not the geographic locations of the earth. That would put it up about half the population. of what the earth is today. Still not enough proof, however.
of horror of sin and the consequences For career Antichrist people Right now. to repent and even then And so, when we pray, when we pray for the lost souls, and every Christian, should be praying for lost souls. Every day, there should be somebody you're praying for. It could be the same person every day. But don't get caught not praying for lost souls.
Christ came to die for lost souls. That's how important it is. And In these prayers, Make sure you Don't forget How difficult a fight this is. But it's still winnable. Don't be discouraged.
I mean, you're going to feel discouragement. You've got to fight it. The only answer to discouragement is resisting it. Resist the devil and he shall flee.
Well, he's coming back again. He's not going to say, oh, you resisted me, I won't go there anymore. He's coming back.
Well, what happens when he comes back? It's it's peat and repeat. That's what it is. You got to resist them again and again. That's what endurance is all about.
These four horsemen symbolize savagery. The savagery of Christless Humanity self-destructing. And the tendency to do so. All because they got what they wanted. Again, no interference from Jesus.
Again, I point to Daniel chapter 7: the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth. which shall be different from all other kingdoms. And shall devour the whole earth, trample it, and break it in pieces. See, that's how we know what's happening with Antichrist, because Daniel's telling us something that has never happened in human history, and all the other prophets are ringing in. Oh, it's gonna come, and it's gonna come at this time.
And so when Jesus said, when you see the abomination of desolation, In the temple. Which means there's going to be a third Jewish temple. You can see that it's all tying together to one particular point. with one particular leader. He says to kill with the sword with hunger.
With death And by the beast of the earth. This is Mahem. And this verse summarizes the devastation of these First four seals. And guess what? Just four of the seals of the document have been peeled back.
There are three more to come. The seventh one unleashes the seventh trumpets and the seven. Trumpet unleashes four or seven more. Outpourings of evil.
So you have the white horse that brings power of Antichrist. You have the red horse which brings the war from this one that promised peace, but there is no peace. You have the black horse, which brings the famine that follows war. Just look at your history books of what happened in Nazi Germany after the war, in Imperial Japan after the war. Those are just two places.
You look in many places and find what happened to the citizens. The famine, the hunger, the lack of medicine, the lack of water. The hardship placed upon the survivors. And then there's the pale horse that brings even more carnage on top of everything else.
So, in addition to the madness of this anti-Christ character. there will be increased demonic activity as the world has never known. And let me point out Remote areas of the world will not escape. Maybe there's some remote place in Ecuador or somewhere in Chile. There's not going to be an escape.
It's going to be global because if the people don't get you the demons will And we'll be getting to that as we move through it. Jesus said in Luke 21: and there will be great earthquakes in various places. I know I'm repeating this, and merits it. Famines and pestilence There will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. the earth will be shaken.
Weapons of mass destruction and their fallout from nuclear exchanges. from biological weapons, from chemical weapons. from supersonic weapons. Make all of this more believable than when John wrote it 2,000 years ago. Accurate.
Estimates I think they're accurate. forecast a world population of 9.7 billion people by 2050. More people to die. The Jewish race will of course be nearly wiped out. I'm almost finished.
The Lord said that Satan is not only a thief, but he is also a murderer. And we're seeing that. because they have welcomed His ideologies With glee. We're living that, you know, that whole woke thing right out of hell. And you see how people just gobbled it up.
And now we're seeing some of the consequences of that. And all of that. is little league stuff. compared To what's coming, and God is saying. to us now.
Especially you have never given your life to Christ. Don't be here. You know um Okay. When I was a steel worker, there were places where you didn't want to be. And as an apprentice, the journeymen would look down from wherever they were and they would say, Kid, don't be there.
That's all they had to say. And God is looking down and He's saying, don't be there. Don't live in this great tribulation period. If you hear the word of God, get out of it. By coming to the Son of God.
Two verses and we close. Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things which will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. And then 1 Thessalonians 5:4, but you brethren are not in darkness, so that this day. should overtake you as a thief. If you've not given your life to Christ, you still have a chance.
But there are two times when you won't have a chance. Anymore. If you die without him, And if you go through that great tribulation having rejected him, not likely you're going to do well. Yeah. Uh This has been Cross-Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston.
This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
