Revelation 6:3 - Meaning and Application

The next three seals give a sad picture of the great and destructive judgments God sends on those who refuse or misuse the everlasting gospel. Some people take them to mean the persecutions that came on the church of Christ. Others take them to mean the destruction of the Jews. But they seem to point more generally to God’s terrible judgments, by which he avenges the insult done to his covenant on those who treat it lightly.

When the second seal is opened, John is told to watch, and another horse appears, this one red (Revelation 6:4). The red horse points to the destructive judgment of war. The rider on this horse has power to take peace from the earth, so that people kill one another. It is not clear whether this rider is Christ himself, as Lord of hosts, or the agents he uses to carry out war. But three things are clear. First, those who will not yield to the gospel’s gentle rule must expect to be broken by the sword of divine justice. Second, Jesus Christ rules not only in the kingdom of grace, but also in providence, meaning his wise rule over all events. Third, the sword of war is a dreadful judgment. It removes peace from the earth, one of life’s greatest blessings, and turns people into killers of one another, when they should be loving and helping each other.

When the third seal is opened, another horse appears, black, which points to famine, that terrible judgment. The rider has a pair of scales in his hand (Revelation 6:5), showing that people must now measure out their bread carefully, as God had warned in (Leviticus 26:26): “They shall deliver your bread by weight.” Some interpreters think the voice in (Revelation 6:6), saying, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and do not harm the oil and the wine,” means plenty rather than famine. But that objection disappears if we remember how small the measure was and how much the penny was worth at that time. Their measure was only about a quart, and their penny was about sevenpence-halfpenny in our money, which is a high price for a quart of wheat.

This famine seems to have fallen most heavily on the poor. The oil and wine, which were luxuries for the rich, were not hurt. But if bread, the staff of life, is taken away, luxuries cannot replace it. Here we should notice two things. First, when people hate their spiritual food, God may justly take away their daily bread. Second, one judgment rarely comes alone. War naturally brings famine, and those who do not humble themselves under one judgment must expect another, and even greater, because when God enters into judgment, he will prevail. A famine of bread is a terrible judgment, but a famine of the word is worse, even though careless sinners do not feel its weight.

When the fourth seal is opened, another horse appears, pale in color. The rider is Death, the king of terrors. This is pestilence, which is death in power, death ruling over a city or nation, death riding about and making new gains every hour. Along with this king of terrors comes hell, that is, eternal misery for all who die in their sins. In times of such wide destruction, many go down unprepared into the place of ruin. It is a fearful thought, enough to make the whole world tremble, that eternal judgment follows immediately after the death of an unrepentant sinner.

We should notice several things here. There is a natural, as well as a judicial, link between one judgment and another. War wastes a people and brings scarcity and famine after it. Famine, by depriving people of proper food and forcing them to eat what is harmful, often brings pestilence too. God always has more than enough ways to punish a wicked people. In the book of his purposes, he has prepared judgments for those who mock him, as well as mercy for those who return to him. In the Scriptures, he has made both warnings and promises known, and it is our duty to hear and believe the warnings as well as the promises.

After these seals of coming judgments are opened, and after each one is described, we are told in general that God gave them power over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, hunger, death, and the beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:8). He gave them power, meaning those instruments of his anger, or the judgments themselves. He who holds the winds in his hand has all public disasters under his command. They can go only when he sends them, and only as far as he allows.

Along with war, famine, and pestilence, the beasts of the earth are added as another severe judgment, mentioned in (Ezekiel 14:21). They are named last here because when a nation has been emptied by sword, famine, and pestilence, the few survivors remain in a waste and howling land. That only encourages wild beasts to move in and make them easy prey. Others understand the beasts of the field to mean brutal, savage men who have stripped off all humanity and take pleasure in destroying others.