Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
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Revelation 6:1-11
The Seals
1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 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.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 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.
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
A couple of days ago, our Reflection focused on the Revelation of John for the first time in a while. We said that unlike other parts of the church that consider the symbolic imagery to be a literal prophesy of spectacular events to come, our tradition interprets the Revelation more in terms of its overall theme, which is that God will overcome the forces of evil in the end. The followers of Jesus will sometimes find ourselves threatened and abused by the “powers and principalities” of this world, but God will ultimately triumph over those powers and bring his kingdom to fulfillment on earth, as it is in heaven.
It’s worth noting that some New Testament scholars believe that it’s the world’s powers and principalities in general that are represented by “the beast” in the Revelation. Traditional interpretations have identified the beast with the Roman Empire, and the early church definitely faced persecutions by that empire. But other scholars say John might have intended the beast to represent any worldly power that victimizes the vulnerable and oppresses God’s people.
You might also remember that in our first look at the Revelation the other day, we said that many of its symbols represent things that were going on in John’s time, rather than events that will take place when Jesus returns. And our passage for today – the reading the describes “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” – is a good example.
According to the scholars whose interpretations of the Revelation make the most sense to me, the four horsemen represent four causes of suffering and destruction that people were most afraid of in the ancient world.
The first horseman is given a weapon and a crown, and goes out “bent on conquest.” Its weapon is a bow, which strikes from a distance. The scholars say this horseman represents foreign invaders who cause great destruction and loss of life.
The second horseman is also given a weapon, but this weapon is a sword, which can only strike someone nearby. Scholars say this horseman represents violence and destruction that’s inflicted on a country from within. That could be civil war, or gangs of marauders or criminal gangs – ways that the people of a country “slay each other.”
The third horseman comes carrying scales. When we see scales, our first thought is probably the justice system. But the scholars say that in the ancient world, the scales were more likely to represent commerce – they’re meant to be the scales that merchants used to weigh out products they were selling. So this horseman seems to represent the suffering that comes from economic upheaval.
The part about the third horseman seems to point to a specific example of economic upheaval in John’s time. A voice shouts something that seems strange. It’s a complaint about the high cost of grain and about protecting “the oil and the wine.” The scholars say there’s a reason why the voice says that: When the Romans conquered the Holy Land, they confiscated thousands of acres of farmers’ land and planted olive groves and grape vineyards. Olive oil and wine were critical to the economy of the Roman Empire. But the result of these land confiscations was that the price of food went through the roof, and thousands of people starved. So as the third horseman rides, the voice is complaining against economic policies that were causing hardship and starvation.
The fourth horseman comes riding a pale horse. This horseman represents death in general, from all sorts of disastrous causes, including the sword, plague and wild beasts.
So the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse clearly represent the things that people were most afraid of in John’s time. They were meant to be symbols of the kinds of suffering that the powers and principalities unleash on vulnerable people. So to the early followers of Jesus trying to spread the faith in a difficult world, the Four Horsemen represented a powerful promise from God to be with them in all of the hardships they might go through.
The suffering symbolized by the Four Horsemen falls on believers and unbelievers alike. But this passage closes with an acknowledgement of one kind of suffering that was particular to the followers of Jesus – persecution for their faith. The voices of martyrs cry out for vengeance against the powers of the world who have persecuted them, but they are told to be patient until the time of persecution is done. The first readers of the Revelation would probably have been surprised to learn that almost twenty centuries later, their fellow believers are still being persecuted and martyred by the brutal powers and principalities of this world.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you that you spoke through your servant John to promise your embattled people that you will be victorious in the end, and that those who suffer in this world will share in your victory. Give your people the strength and faith to cling to that hope as we live in the trouble of this world. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
(The other readings for today are Psalms 65 and 66; Lamentations 2:16-22; and Matthew 13:18-23. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
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