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The Other Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

3 days ago
8 min read
HighBeamMinistry.com

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, ‘Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.’” (Revelation 4:1)

 

No matter what happens, our Heavenly Father is in control.

 

Remember that.

 

From the first word of Creation in Genesis 1 to the last words in Revelation 22, the Father has forever been in control. He is the absolute Sovereign of the visible and invisible realms, and any other dimension beyond our human comprehension.

 

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelation 6:1-8 are a prime example. In case you don’t know who this posse is, they are “four horsemen (who) ride out, symbolizing four powerful forces that harm people: brute militarism, war and violence, famine, and death.” (NIV Quest Study Bible Notes) The four horsemen represent:


  • A Global Conqueror (Revelation 6:2)

  • Global Conflict (Revelation 6:4)

  • Global Scarcity/Famine on Earth (Revelation 6:5-6)

  • Global Death (Revelation 6:8)


Those who study eschatology (the study of End Times prophecy) recognize that these four worldwide events have been part of human history since the Fall in Genesis 3. History shows an unending train of wannabe emperors, kings, dictators, and despots with an eye toward global domination. If you’ve read my book series The Subdue and Rule Mandate: Everybody Wants To Rule The World (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G4K6SWPX?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_sirpi), you’re very aware that humanity is driven to control the world around them, mostly on the micro level. However, there have been plenty of macro-megalomaniacs with the ability to marshal large forces to impose their will on as many poor souls as possible.


That has led to continuous conflicts around the world. And because we live in a fallen world, aggravated by the onset of environmental turmoil after Noah’s Flood, famines have never ceased but continually sweep over the globe from region to region.

 

Finally, since the Fall, death has reigned over humanity. Disease, natural cataclysms, and other threats have claimed innumerable lives. Yup, no one gets out of this life alive.

 

But what we read in Revelation will be far and above anything humanity has experienced before. Israel’s sages referred to the convulsions preceding God’s End Time intervention as “The Birth Pains of Messiah.” Just as labor pains increase in frequency and intensity, so the agonies of the human experience noted above will also rise to a horrendous climax. What can we reasonably expect based on Revelation 6?


  • A conqueror whose goal is global domination, with a great possibility that he’ll get close to achieving that end.

  • A world war that will encompass most of the nations on the planet.

  • A worldwide shortage of life’s necessities, particularly food, resulting in widespread famine.

  • And finally, a massive number of deaths. According to Revelation 9:15, 18, a third of humanity will shuffle off this mortal coil. That’s roughly 2.8 billion people out of today’s 8.3 billion world population (https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/).


Are we in those End Times? Are the labor pains increasing? Metrics suggest things are getting worse. But ask the persecuted Christians around the world who are being martyred for Jesus, and they’ll say, “How much worse can it get?”

 

To those tempted to despair at this point in my blog, I assure you, what’s happening now does not escape our Heavenly Father’s eye or compassion. As for what is prophesied to come, despite these horrendous judgments being released, they don’t come forth without our Father’s permission. They are not random nor out of control. They serve our Father’s divine purposes. In the case of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they prepare the world for the return of His global King, Jesus.

 

That said, I believe there are Four Other Horsemen of the Apocalypse that give us a better measurement of where we are on the eschatological timeline. Let’s open the prophetic stable doors, shall we?

 

Horseman #1: Israel’s return as a nation in 1947. This event is by far the clearest sign of the End. When Israel entered their covenant with God at Mount Sinai, the Lord made it crystal clear that if they repeatedly and unrepentantly broke faith with Him by violating their covenant agreement, that He would level the ultimate punishment—He would kick them off His Promised Land and disperse them among the nations until they returned to Him and their commitment to their covenant pledge. Their exiles happened in the Assyrian (734-722 B.C.) and Babylonian exiles (597 and 586 B.C.). While some Jews returned from this first dispersion around 538 B.C. (“Edict of Cyrus”), many remained spread out in the early Diaspora. Again, under the Romans (63 B.C. to A.D. 135), a great number of Jews were dispersed due to the Jewish-Roman wars in the first two centuries (A.D. 66-73, 132-136).

 

However, according to the Sinai covenant, when the Israelites return to the Lord and obey Him with all their heart and soul, the Lord will regather them from the uttermost parts of the earth to their ancestral homeland and they will prosper (Deuteronomy 30:1-5). Moses says this will happen in the Last Days (acharit hayamim, the Final Days, Deuteronomy 4:30)

 

The Lord confirmed this repent/gather-all-Jews-and-restore-to-the-land condition through Ezekiel, “After many days you will be visited. In the latter years (acharit hashanim, Final Years) you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely” (Ezekiel 38:8) (See also Ezekiel 11:17, 20:34, 20:41, 28:25, 34:13.)

 

The major sign of the approaching End is the regathering/return of the Jews from the nations to their ancestral homeland. Yes, the world has been watching prophecy unfold before its eyes since 1947, Israel’s Independence.

 

Horseman #2: Israel retaking Jerusalem as their capital in 1967. Jesus told His disciples clearly that an End Time sign would be Jerusalem’s return into Jewish hands after it was captured in war and the Jews dispersed; “They (the Jews) will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).

 

The phrase “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” implies that this precedes “the time of the Jews.” Why is that? Because another prophecy says, “In the last days (acharit hayamim, the Final Days) the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it” (Isaiah 2:2, italics author).

 

Yes, the world has been watching prophecy unfold before its eyes since 1967, the Six-Day War.

 

Horseman #3: Islam’s ride for global domination. Just as John prophesied the rise of an agent of global conquest in Revelation, so many wannabe global conquerors have reached for what belongs only to Jesus—global dominion. While many of history’s empires have been motivated by religion, none has been as driven as the Islamic Caliphates. Those whom Islam conquered were often “invited” to convert or face persecution, the jizya (a “protection” tax), or death for refusing to submit to conversion. Even a cursory study of Islam since its start in A.D. 622 reveals Islam’s dream for global absolute domination. I see Islam easily fitting John’s vision of both the 1st and 2nd Horsemen of a Conqueror contributing to a worldwide war at the End.

 

Yes, the world has been watching prophecy unfold before its eyes, century upon century, but especially today, with the rising drive among Muslims to see the Caliphate reborn (see ISIS).

 

Horseman #4: The hoofbeats of global antisemitism. I was born just over fifteen years after WWII ended. That’s not long after the Holocaust, one of the greatest attacks against Jews. Sadly, I grew up hearing a few whispers about “those Jews.” Over the years, I’ve studied the history of antisemitism, especially in the disgusting form of “Christian” antisemitism.

 

Imagine people who follow a Jewish Messiah as their Savior attacking the very people who produced their Savior. The absurdity and irony are thick and nauseating. And yet, today we see a dramatic upsurge in global antisemitism, even among those who have devoted their lives (and afterlives) to the Jewish Jesus.

 

Oh, is He ever going to be mad! I wouldn’t want to be an antisemitic Christian standing before a Jewish Judge on the Day of the Lord trying to explain why He’s wrong, and I’m right. That would be a hell of a thing…for me.

 

Since Hamas’ attack from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, antisemitism has reemerged in its most virulent form since Hitler’s day. Here are a few recent internet headlines to peruse:

 


And let’s make a note of social media influencers who are pushing virulent Christian antisemitism across the internet to tens of millions of listeners:

 


So why would rising rampant antisemitism be the Other 4th Horseman of the Apocalypse? Because the Bible already tells us that antisemitism, Jew/Israel hatred, will be a part of the End Times. For example,

 

  • “A coalition of nations invades a restored Israel ‘in the latter years’ (Ezekiel 38:8, 16 per Grok.com). Israel is described as living securely, yet attacked without immediate human allies.”

  • “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land” (Joel 3:2, italics author).

  • “‘For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled…’ God Himself allows a multinational assault on Jerusalem before intervening” (Zechariah 14:2, Grok.com, italics author).


Yes, the world is watching prophecy unfold before its eyes.

 

So, there are the Other Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that I believe have ridden forth as a sign that we’re nearing the End Times and the transition point of Jesus’ return. Sad to say, I expect the remaining two horses’ footfall will increase in speed and intensity, just like the aforementioned labor pains.

 

Despite how troubling and gloomy this sounds, be encouraged. Again, our Heavenly Father is not unaware of these things. He is not surprised, and He is certainly in absolute control. He is still sovereign over the world and always will be. As is often said, “Nothing comes to us but that it first passes through our Father’s hands.”

 

Stay the course, O Christian. Stand with Jesus. Stand with His people.

 

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Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead

 

Pastor Jay Christianson

The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts

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