The Lamb Rules

1. The Lamb Rules

The Lamb now begins to open the scroll by breaking the seals. This initiates the three sets or cycles of judgment in the rest of the book — the seals, trumpets, and bowls. The seven seals lead us into the opening of the scroll that contains God’s plan for ending the present world order, overthrowing Satan, saving his people, and restoring his creation. Chapters 4-5 showed us that God the Father and Christ the Lamb are the Lord God Almighty, the sovereign Ruler of the universe. Here in chapter 6 and the rest of Revelation we see their sovereign rule and awesome power in action. The Lamb rules over this world. Nothing happens indiscriminately or by chance. The Lamb executes God’s plan. He opens the seals. The four living beings standing next to God’s throne issue the commands for the four horsemen to come. The Greek ἐδόθη (was given) is repeated here and used frequently throughout the book. This is the divine passive indicating that God is in control of the process. It shows His sovereign power over all his creation, even the forces of evil. He authorizes the activities of the horsemen. The events which follow serve his purposes for judgment and salvation. The Lamb rules on the throne and controls human history.

2. Conquest, War, Famine, Death

The horsemen have a symbolic function and represent conquest, war, famine, and death. They signify the political, social, economic, and natural disasters throughout the world during the end times. For, we are living in the end times. These began with Jesus’ victorious suffering on the cross, his resurrection, and his ascent to heaven. The four horsemen describe the destructive forces that were unleashed on the world, which are at work now and leading up to the final end when our Lord comes back. They are the forerunners, the beginning of the birth pains of the final end. As Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Mt 24:6-8). The horsemen unleash the deepest sins of humankind and show the effects of their total depravity, effects that we have seen throughout history and still see today — the lust for conquest, followed by bloodshed. In their wake follows famine and widespread death.

The first horseman sits on a white horse, and has a bow and crown. He rides out to conquer. This represents the sinful human lust for conquest and power. He is described as the one sitting (ὁ καθήμενος) on the horse, a direct parallel to the description of God sitting on the throne (4:2, 3, 9, 10). He represents human beings setting themselves up in the place of God; the original and ongoing sin of humankind, wanting to be like God and be their own gods. It also reminds us of the limits of human power and authority. Like the Roman Empire and so many other empires, all human rule and nations will someday collapse and eventually yield to the eternal rule of God.

The second horse is fiery red, symbolizing the terrible bloodshed and slaughter that results from war when peace is removed. The large sword represents the judgment of warfare and violent death. People are slaughtering each other. All wars cause people to commit awful atrocities as they slaughter one another in horrendous ways. This also has in mind the persecution of Christians as the word slaughter is used to refer to the death of Christ and his followers. Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household’” (Mt 10:34-36). He warned us, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other …” (Mt 24:9-10).  “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Mk 13:12-13).

Warfare and bloodshed lead to economic destabilization and hardship, including famine. And so the third horseman rides out with the scales like those used in commerce. A denarius was the average day’s wage for a laborer. A quart of wheat was enough food for one person for a day. Barley was less expensive but also less nutritious. Three quarts of barley were barely enough for a small family for one day. Therefore, all of a man’s income went to feed himself and his family. Nothing was left for other expensive and definitely not for olive oil and wine. These are famine prices, about 10 to 12 times the normal price. Conquering armies stripped the land from grain crops but it seems that there was an unspoken rule not to destroy olive trees and the vineyards. Wheat and barley can grow back and be harvested within a year. Destroying olive trees and vineyards will cause long-term devastation and hardship, and also devalue the land conquered.

The fourth horseman rides on a horse that has a pale yellowish-green color, the color of disease and death, the color of a corpse. He is appropriately named Death and is followed by Hades. God gives them the authority to kill a fourth of the earth. We see God’s mercy in this measure of restraint. Death’s tools include the violence that people perpetrate by the weapons of war, the famines that break out due to economic, natural, and other disasters, the diseases and plagues that rob people of health and life, and the wild beasts who feed on the weak and dead.

If anyone still doubts that we are living in the end times, just look at what is happening in our world. War is brutal and doesn’t choose its victims fairly. One author describes the 20th century as one open-mouthed grave with the tens of millions of people who have died in wars, civil wars, and genocides. We are 22 years into the 21st century and wars, terrorism, and mass shootings continue unabated. Famine, disease, plagues, epidemics, and pandemics bring suffering and death to millions around the world. Millions of children in the world are forced to live on the streets, under the streets, or on garbage heaps. Millions of women and children are ensnared in human and sex trafficking. Millions of people are homeless, displaced, and refugees because of violence, oppression, famine, poverty, and persecution because they belong to the wrong faith, race, tribe, or social class.

We should wake up. We are living in the end times. This brings us to the question, where is God in all of this? And a second question, where are we in all of this?

3. Where is God? Where are We?

Although these judgments come from God’s throne, He is not the origin or cause of evil and suffering in the world. We live in a broken and sinful world. It is true that God brings prosperity and creates disaster (Is 45:7), that He puts to death and brings to life, wounds and heals (Deut 32:39). But not all suffering can always be ascribed to God. This world is also the place in which Satan operates and human sin wreaks havoc. Suffering results from the fallen state of this broken world. God allows these judgments to occur as the consequences of human sinfulness. He allows sin and evil to run their course, resulting in warfare, violence, bloodshed, economic hardship, famine, plagues, and death.

God allows human sinfulness to run its course to expose the root cause of evil and suffering, namely sinful people, Satan, and his forces. He allows it to run its course so that these will show their true colors. He allows human depravity to come full circle to show that the unbelieving and unrepentant world deserves God’s wrath, deserves these judgments, and the final judgment that is coming in the end. Romans 1 tells us that the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness … Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts. He gave them over to shameful lusts, to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity (Ro 1:18-30). God allows these judgments and tribulations to wake up the unrepentant world. This is his final warning and last call for repentance.

And where are we in all of this? First, we should know that sin and evil are real in this world. We should realize the disastrous and deadly effects of sin. We tend to focus on the big sins and ignore the little sins. Our tendency is to rationalize away our cherished sins. But even the little sins eat away at the fiber of our being. When we nurture small, seemingly harmless seeds of sin, we eventually reap a whirlwind of devastation. Sin produces death and destruction.

All forms of war and conflicts, including the current culture wars, conflicts, and divisions in our own society, are the products of our human self-centeredness, our lust for power, and conquest. There are so many conflicts over selfish interests, ideologies, political views, and ethnic and racial pride. People create all kinds of idols for which they are willing to fight and die but don’t ask them to sacrifice, suffer, and die for Christ. All these stem from our sinful core of self-centeredness, of wanting to be like God and be our own gods.

These visions confront us with the all-important question — In what or who are we trusting? These judgments should shake our attachment to false sources of security such as nationality, power, wealth, or health. We are trusting far too much in our citizenship, bank accounts, and secure circumstances. The four horsemen remind us not to be seduced by a false sense of security provided by human empires, institutions, or personalities. None of these can save us from the current and coming tribulations, suffering, and death. We should renew our trust in the Lord as our only reliable source of security, as our only Savior. Jesus warned us that our faith will be tested and that we will be persecuted. We will experience these tribulations with the world and even more, as the world persecutes us.

This passage tells us that God as the sovereign Lord remains firmly in control over all his creation, even the forces of evil. Even these judgments, these terrible events, and sufferings serve God’s sovereign purposes. He is using these forces to bring world history to its end and bring in the new creation. This should encourage us to endure patiently in faithful witness to Christ in the midst of suffering. We must not compromise and conform to the ways of the world. My heart breaks when I see and hear Christians call for and commit violence and injustices against other human beings when they act in anger and call others all kinds of names. My blood turns cold when I hear talk about taking up arms and civil war. Don’t we realize that when we do this we disobey our Lord, contradict his teachings, and destroy our witness? Don’t we realize that when we do this we are just like the world and so we deserve and will receive these same judgments just like the unbelieving world?

Now like never before, we must stand up for Christ and his kingdom. We must rise above these conflicts and divisions. We must be radically different. We must live the kingdom life so that we proclaim God’s gospel of love, grace, forgiveness, salvation, and peace; show the world there is a better way. This is how we should live — Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. And if we are persecuted and suffer because of this, and even killed, blessed are we because we are persecuted and killed because of Jesus Christ. Because then we have achieved victory. We have conquered. We have defeated Satan and the unbelieving world. Our death is one more nail in his coffin, one more battle that has contributed to his demise and defeat.

Let us not shy away from our calling, mission, and purpose in this world during these end times. Let us wake up and repent. Let us endure patiently in our faithful witness to Christ because our Lord is coming soon.