The Black Horseman

Revelation 6:5-6 King James Version 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Let's dig in. Although we are only concentrating on two verses here it is a lot to unpack. So this discussion may stretch over three blogs.

I want to focus on the first phrase 'And when he had opened the third seal'.

First of all, you know we didn't start at Revelation 1. We didn't even start at the point where Jesus started to open the seals at the beginning of Revelation 6. No, we skipped right down to verse 6 because I believe that we are in the time of the Black Horseman.

To appreciate this position we have to first recognise that when the first seal was opened a white horse appears and the one that sat on it went out conquering - I believe this first rider was Christ and the white horse represented an era, a period of time when the Christian Church prospered and grew and spread the good news of Jesus Christ.

When the second seal is opened there appears a red horse. The goal of this horse and rider is to take peace from the earth. One immediate considers the era that follows the rise of Christianity - the world wars.

I'm making this point to make the case that I believe these horses are representative of periods of time. Our verse starts by saying ' And when he had opened the third seal'.

It speaks to a continuation, something that happens after the time of the wars.

John in his vision of heaven hears one of the beast that stay around the throne of God say 'Come and see'.

We are then introduced to the Black Horseman.

Check us next week to learn what the Black Horseman represents and what era he represents.