Truth Matters 95 (August 16-20)

This is Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. On today's broadcast of Truth Matters, the Truth Train takes our study into the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation and the opening of the first four seals. Here's Dr. Cheryl Davis and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Hello, I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis, and thank you for listening to Truth Matters. We are continuing our journey through the Book of Revelation, and today we'll get started in chapter six. As I have stated before, Revelation chapters six through 19 cover the tribulation here on earth, which is God's judgment on the earth. But just to review, the tribulation will last a total of seven years. It is known as the time of Jacob's trouble, also the last week of Daniel's 70th week prophecy. The tribulation is seven years long.

The first three and a half years will be relatively peaceful. Then the last three and a half years is known as the great tribulation, where there will be intense suffering. In chapter five, we saw where the Lamb took the scroll, mainly in chapter five, and we see what is going on in heaven. But as we transition to chapter six, we see the judgment on the earth. Let's begin in the first eight verses.

We'll begin reading Revelation chapter six, verses one through eight. Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see.

Another horse, fiery red, went out, and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another, and there was given to him a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come and see. So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come and see.

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 a sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beast of the earth. This section of Scripture is very popular, even in the modern day world. This section is known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

But where else, really, in our society have you heard this title? When I presented this to my church, a lot of them said NASA. There was a group who went up in the space shuttle of NASA known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. If you watch WWE and wrestling, there's a group of men known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And also, this is a song by Metallica. I think even, what I'm trying to say is that even the modern society knows the significance of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and there's a mystery surrounding that.

So I think a lot of people are drawn to this name. But just to get into some housekeeping before we get into the four horses, the scroll contains seven seals. And as we've said before, and in chapter five, the scroll is the title deed to the earth. This is the process in which judgment is going to occur so that Jesus will take control and receive his inheritance on the earth. You know, later in Revelation, it says the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God. This is the end point of opening all the seals of the title deed to the earth. The seventh seal contains seven trumpets.

The seventh trumpet contains seven bowls. These are all judgments that will fall upon the earth. The first four seals are four horses that are released, carrying various forms of judgment. In modern times, horses are viewed for agriculture and transportation. It is very different, though, in the ancient biblical world, in the setting in which Revelation was written. Today, we use them as a tool, but we find in the ancient world, they had really different significance, and we find that in Job, the image of the horse would bring to mind warfare and battle to the ancient reader. Please join us for our next broadcast of Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis, as the prophecy series will take our study into the seventh chapter of Revelation, with the four angels stationed at the four corners of earth and the 144,000 end-time evangelists. It is an exciting study in God's Word, as we who are living today are seeing some of the events that the Apostle John foretold of in the first century A.D. Truth Matters is a ministry of The Truth Project.