Beginning of the End!

Revelation 6:3-8

Beginning of the end!

Revelation 6:3-8, When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” ⁴ Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. Third Seal: Scarcity on Earth ⁵ When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” Fourth Seal: Widespread Death on Earth ⁷ When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” ⁸ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

The music of praise that filled chapters 4 and 5 has now come to an end. The stirrings of judgment, which began with ominous signs at the throne—flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder in chapter 4, verse 5—now break into full action in chapter 6.

Here, the Lamb of God, the Worthy One, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah—our Lord Jesus Christ—begins to break the seals of the scroll that contains God’s wrath. This scroll records the reclaiming of the universe by Christ, as He takes back what is rightfully His from the usurper, Satan, and all his demons.

The visions in this chapter mark the beginning of God’s final wrath. The church is raptured before these events unfold. We see the church in heaven, symbolized by the twenty-four elders who are worshiping God and glorifying the Lamb.

As the Lamb steps onto the stage of history to enact these judgments, the church is already in glory with the Lord. This marks the start of the seven-year tribulation, during which the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls of judgment will be unleashed—each representing a final act of God's righteous judgment on the earth.

The world of man is heading toward inevitable death.

Sin is exacting a heavy toll, one that ultimately leads to the judgment of God. Every aspect of our culture, society, is spiraling downward, devastated by depravity and increasingly consumed by lust, pride, self-indulgence, immorality, and the rejection of God, Christ, and the truth of Scripture.

As a result, humanity is under sentence—our entire world is doomed to experience divine wrath. Man will drink the cup of God’s judgment to the fullest. The prophet Jeremiah, in his day, foresaw the coming judgment upon Israel and what they would face as a consequence of their disobedience.

Jeremiah 30:7, Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

The Jews, who had rejected their Messiah, will face the inevitability of God’s wrath. Isaiah, in contrast to Jeremiah, also looked at the final wrath of God, but his perspective was broader, encompassing not just Israel but the Gentile nations as well.

Isaiah 34:1-3, Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all

things that come forth from it. ² For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. ³ Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

He declares that God’s indignation is against all the nations and their armies. He speaks of their total destruction. The imagery here is horrific. Humanity’s rebellion leads to judgment so severe that the very earth seems to mourn. The sky, too, will bear witness to this destruction.

Isaiah 34:4-6, All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree. ⁵ “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, And on the people of My curse, for judgment. ⁶ The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, It is made overflowing with fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

This is a scene of cosmic devastation, the end of things as we know them. But the judgment is specific in its target: Edom, a symbol of all those who stand opposed to God’s people, will be

a focal point of this wrath

Moving from Edom, Isaiah’s vision expands to encompass the wider world, depicting the ultimate doom and destruction that awaits humanity. This imagery is not limited to just one nation or group but worldwide judgment that is coming.

For the Jews, it will be the time of Jacob’s trouble, and for the Gentiles, it will be the slaughter of the world. As we look at our world today, we must recognize that it is headed toward this inevitable doomsday. There is a sense that the world is in its final stages, gasping for breath, as if on the brink of death.

We can almost hear the choking of a dying world, as it desperately clings to its fleeting moments before the coming judgment. The prophets spoke of this day, and their words serve as a stark reminder that humanity’s rebellion against God will not go unpunished.

Revelation chapter 6, we are literally transported to the future. The experience of opening the seven-sealed scroll was not only visible to John in his vision, but is now made known to us, because God wanted him to write it down.

The scroll is taken out of the hand of God by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

V 1, “He begins to break the seals.” It was rolled a little bit and sealed on the edges, rolled a little bit and sealed, and all of those were to keep it from ever being known, which here is revealed to us. Ultimately will be unrolled.

As it unrolls, the events of God’s wrath unfold. There are seven seals on this scroll. We will go through those seven seals. They encompass the whole period until the final coming of Christ. The first four seals out of the seven take up the first half of the period known as the tribulation.

The fifth seal is kind of the bridge in the middle stretching into the second half. The sixth and seventh seal are the final judgments are the second half of this seven-year period. We know it’s seven years because it is identified as a seven-year period back in Daniel chapter 9.

It is also identified as to half of it as 42 months, 3 1/2 years, and 1260 days in the book of Revelation. In Daniel some of those same numbers are used. Now the first four seals depict horsemen.

That’s where we get the term “the four horsemen of the apocalypse.” Now they move through the vision to show the opening four sequences in judgment. The imagery is vivid. These are unforgettable as we are with the apostle John see the first acts by which the Lamb, the Lion, the Lord Jesus Christ restores the universe, takes it back, transferring it from Satan to the Lord, the heir, the rightful King.

Now contrary to what some people have thought in looking at prophecy, the first of these horsemen brings a time of peace and prosperity. But the following three are deadly forces. The first one, was peace but what is to follow is nothing like that.

These four horsemen are what Jesus calls in Matthew 24 “the beginning of birth pains.” In the anticipation of a birth there are birth pains. Those birth pains come somewhat infrequently, and then they get more frequently until the final birth takes place.

The same is true of the events that are going to occur during this time period.

There is a coming a final event, the coming of Christ to establish His kingdom. That is the birth in mind. The birth pains are those events that are preliminary to that, and they begin to go more rapidly and more rapidly and more rapidly as they get to the final event.

It is a very vivid analogy. There will be pain, and then more pain and more, faster and faster, until the final and ultimate pain of Christ coming and destroying all the wicked on the face of the earth. The fifth seal is severe and widespread persecution mentioned in V 9.

The midpoint in this seven-year period, people have been saved, people have been converted in that first three-and-a- half-year period. All the church is gone before the period starts, in the rapture but in the first half there will be people redeemed, and they will then be slaughtered.

The midpoint, the fifth seal is the persecution. It also has a unique event within that persecution called the abomination of desolations. (Daniel 9:24-27)

This is when the Antichrist desecrates the temple in Jerusalem, starts the persecution of Christians, the persecution of Jews, and sets himself up as God. Then there is worldwide persecution. Then in the second half, what Jesus called in Matthew 24 “the great tribulation”.

➢ The first half, the beginning of the birth pains. ➢ The second half, the great tribulation. The second half, the persecution continues. Then comes the sixth seal, and seventh, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the slaughter of the ungodly.

So, the events described in the scroll then when full unrolled will encompass the full seven years of God’s wrath. The final fury when God Himself comes in the form of Christ and enacts His own judgment. But that final day of the Lord is preceded by divine judgments that we are seeing unfold in these first five seals.

As each seal is opened, the sequence of judgment unfolds vividly.

V 1-2, Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” ² And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

The deceptive short-lived world peace. The rider and the horse are not a particular individual, but a force. The force of peace. Many false deliverers, many false messiahs led by the ultimate false messiah, the Antichrist, the ultimate falsechrist, the supreme human tool of Satan.

Initially they come and they offer world peace, the Antichrist is certainly a key player. Prosperity sets in around the world, the white horse depicts that. He has a bow but no arrows, which means he has a certain amount of authority, but he conquers without ever shooting anything. It is a conquering without bloodshed.

A crown was given to him, he didn’t take it, it was given to him, which means the world crowns peace as king. All over the world peace becomes the issue. World peace, global peace. Peace will be crowned king.

Leads us then to the second seal, following the peace. We don’t know the exact timetable, but it’s not going to be very long, because in the first half you must have these other three riders occur. So, if it’s only three-and-a-half years, we know that the world peace isn’t going to last very long.

John is still in heaven. The next beginning birth pain that will increase in intensity toward the final event of God’s wrath and the coming of Jesus Christ can clearly be understood. Second Seal: Worldwide War. V 3-4, When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” ⁴ Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.

The second rider is war not peace, worldwide war.

Matthew 24:7, For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

This will be the next in the flow in the sequence of precursors to the final day of the Lord. Here the story gets ugly and stays that way until Christ establishes His kingdom. V 3, “He broke the second seal.” The capital H on “He” indicates we are talking about the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the rightful heir. He breaks the second seal, which unrolls another section of the scroll, which describes the events that are going on in this second phase of God’s unfolding judgment.

“I heard immediately the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” John never reads anything. The word “horse,” study through the Old Testament, we find that in Job 39, or Proverbs 21, or Psalm 76, or in Jeremiah 6, Isaiah 43, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 10, horses are associated with triumph, with majesty, with power, with might, with force.

We even find them later in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 19:11, the Lord in His second coming on a white horse.

Revelation 19:14, the armies which are in heaven, namely believers, are also clothed in fine linen white and clean, following Him on white horses.

Certainly, they are symbolic of triumph. They are symbolic of power and majesty and force. This force that is coming red as opposed to white. Red like fire and red like blood speaks of the holocaust, of war, war in its most frightening and devastating form.

We know it’s war, because it says he takes peace from the earth, men slay each other, and a great sword was given to him. We also know it’s war because it parallels what Jesus said about war and rumors of wars, and nations rising against nation. God then sends as a judgment on the short-lived peace, the false peace, immediate war.

V 4, Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, By whom? By God. All these things that are happening are happening at the command of God. Some people will try to tell you that this is not the wrath of God, because they will say, “We want to make sure that we are delivered from the wrath of God as Christians. But we also want Christians to go through the tribulation, so we can’t call this the wrath of God.”

Sometimes the wrath of men, sometimes the wrath of Satan. There is only one thing you could call it biblically, and that is the wrath of God. It comes from the throne in the little scroll in the hand of God and is executed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

➢ It is God’s unfolding wrath. ➢ It is God who has granted this red horse, the authority and the power, to move and bring war. ➢ It was God who allowed the false peace. ➢ It is God who starts the wars. God allows it. In Matthew 24, they are going to involve nations all over the earth. Nation will rise against nation. Kingdom will rise against kingdom.

We don’t know how it happens war is going to start to break out, and it’s going to escalate over everyplace.

Mark 13:7-8, But when you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.

Now this force of war that comes has three features.

• a) Take peace from the earth.

V 4, to take peace from the earth Sometime early in the first three-and-a-half years, in the birth pangs, in the beginning, world peace turns into war. That initiated peace, that counterfeit prosperity comes to a fast end.

It is global. War is going to break out everywhere. The whole earth is going to lose its peace.

• b) Men are going to slay one another.

Violent slaughter is beginning to take place all over the world. We don’t know the specifics of that except to say exactly what the Scripture says. There will be slaughter all over the earth. This war runs pretty much through the whole rest of the tribulation.

Certainly, runs past the midpoint and on well into the second half. The slaughter runs on beyond this as well. It starts early and it goes on for a long time.

• c) A great sword was given to him.

The Greek word machaira is the word that is used for the soldier’s sword, the one they carried into battle.

It also is used often as the assassin’s weapon. It depicts war and assassination, rebellion, revolt, and massacre, deadly force involving slaughter and death. The deadly one they carried, the machaira, the shorter one, like the assassin’s dagger mostly.

At this time, whatever positive things have been going on in the world, come to a screeching halt. Read Jeremiah chapter 25 and you will see something of the unfolding of this horrible war. Now Antichrist will be a key player in this as he was a key player in the global peace.

We don’t exactly know what his role is going to be at this time, but we know he is going to get involved in it.

Daniel 8:24, His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, And shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people. Antichrist is the one who orchestrated a peace treaty with Israel, according to Daniel. He made a covenant with them. He probably will be the instrument of world peace. But when war starts to break out all over everywhere, to contain his

power and to maintain his authority, he is going to have to turn to war. He slaughters many, including Jews and Christians. He may not initiate the wars, and he may be attempting to resolve them toward the midpoint. Then he does his foul deed of abomination.

Daniel 11:36, “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.

God allows this profane man to become sovereign and a dictator, to speak against God and to rise to power.

Daniel 11:37, “He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. Antichrist does not have the desire of women, it indicates that he is a homosexual. It is not an unimaginable thing in our world. He will be extremely wealthy to finance his wars.

Daniel 11:38-39, But in their place he shall honour a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall

honour with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. ³⁹ Thus he shall act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.

He has his foes and his allies, and he starts to fight here and there, and gain his allies for the wars. We can see him engaging in a massive war effort, and it all is all over the world surrounding Israel. Initially, he was supposed to protect Israel and apparently, he does protect Israel when this all begins.

They make a covenant with him, and he protects them while this worldwide war is unfolding and escalating. He was trying to position himself as the world dictator and the great power. The slaughter’s going on, and he continues to protect Israel until the midpoint and then he does desecrate the temple and starts to move to slaughter Israel.

No doubt the Antichrist comes in peaceably. Probably solves some problems in the Middle East, and even worldwide global problems.

• He becomes the protector of Israel, with whom he makes a covenant.

• He heads up the revived Roman Empire, probably the revived Roman Empire having occupied Europe.
• He will come as some great leader out of Europe.
• He will protect Israel under his protective umbrella of the Western confederacy.
• Antichrist will rule the world.
• Then the world in all its uprisings will be suppressed and squashed.

Daniel 11:40, “At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.

We don’t know who the king of the south is, but if you go south from the land of Israel we will be in Egypt. So, Egypt would come against the Antichrist. It would not be too hard to believe that Egypt would come against him, since he has now established his throne in Jerusalem, Israel. That’s where he set himself up as God to be worshiped by the whole world.

A strategic place in the world, because it’s the very crossroads of the whole world: Asia, Africa, and Europe. Antichrist is attacked by the king of the South.

Probably the king of the South is not identified only as Egypt, because it’s the whole of the south, the whole Muslim world of Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, and Africa. The alliance that comes against him comes from that part of the world.

An African army of some kind moves against the Antichrist who is not only ruling the world but has set his throne as God in the city of Jerusalem.

Who is king of North? Some believe it is Russia. There’s still every reason to think it might be, because it talks about it being in the north and that is north. It is also reasonable to assume that it could be another Arab conspiracy.

The way the Soviet Union has broken up, and the way Arab world seems to be coming together as a common enemy against Israel, it might be reasonable to assume that some kind of Middle East Arab coalition with Iraq and Iran and the other hostile Arab nations would come together.

Why is it called the king of the North? Because every conqueror who comes into the land of Palestine in its history comes from the north. The East you can’t attack since it has desert and high mountains.

The west is water. The south is occupied already. Coming down from the top is the way every enemy has always come. Even to this very time they come down from the north. Whatever these armies are, here is Antichrist, he is trying to control war all over the place.

He abominates in the temple. As we move into the second half, war is still going on all over the globe. Now the world is turning on him. The king of the South comes; the king of the North comes.

Daniel 11:41-42, He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. ⁴² He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall but these will be rescued out of his hand. Edom and Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.

The Northern power seems to be utterly defeated. Antichrist wins. He then goes on to conquer other countries, overflow, pass through them. The Beautiful Land has reference to Palestine, Israel. He conquers all that land.

Antichrist defeated the two kings, the two armies. He moves into the glorious land of Israel. Perhaps this is the place where he does the abomination. Maybe this is the midpoint. Maybe it’s already happened by the time this happens.

What reason would the South have to push that way and the north to push that way if he hadn’t already established his power in that location. But he has desecrated the temple. He has set himself up as God. He holds the Middle East and all its resources in his hands. He is the sovereign, invincible God in his own mind. He consumes the harlot church, the false religion that is remaining in the world, according to Revelation 17.

He has a partner called the False Prophet who calls the whole world to worship him.

Then he moves out from that to conquer other places, continue to overthrow other countries. There is an unending bloodletting going on in Edom, Moab, and Ammon. That is barren wasteland, and he leaves it there. Instead of moving southeast and southwest. He gains control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, the precious things of Egypt, Libyans, Ethiopians will follow at his heals.

Daniel 11:43-44, He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. ⁴⁴ But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.

The rumors from the east could be the army of two hundred million that moves coming from the east, from the north again, another conspiracy. He moves with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. He is a powerful force.

Daniel 11:45, And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. In between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea.

If you put your tent between those places, then you are in the land of Israel. He will meet his match. He thinks he has conquered the world. Because the Lord is going to come. So, wars start in the beginning, and they stretch through and at some point, the abomination of desolation and all of this war keeps escalating until Christ comes back to conquer him.

Revelation as we look at this warring rider, this is the beginning of the birth pains, and it gets much worse. Daniel seems to show us the escalating wars as Antichrist gets involved in them. So, the starting of wars in the first half runs right on through to the end. Man’s last attempt to save his society ends in worldwide holocaust.

War comes, stays, escalates to the end.

Third seal: Famine

V 5-6, When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying,

“A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” The third seal is opened, and the third rider comes. Black is the colour of famine.

Lamentations 5:8-10, Servants rule over us; There is none to deliver us from their hand. ⁹ We get our bread at the risk of our lives, Because of the sword in the wilderness. ¹⁰ Our skin is hot as an oven, Because of the fever of famine. Hunger is the effect of worldwide war.

Matthew 24:7, Following the nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, there will be famine.

This too is God’s judgment. God has done it before. Haggai 1, Ezekiel 4. God has brought famine before, and He will bring it again. When there is this kind of war all over the globe, people stop producing. The slaughter is massive. Food supplies are destroyed.

As a result, rationing is going to take place because of the scarcity of food.

V 5 the rider on the black horse has a pair of scales in his hand. It is used for measuring. Means food is going to be rationed. It is going to be measured out, weighing out food, food lines. He hears the voice in the center of the four living creatures.

Who is in the center of the four living creatures? God’s throne. There is no question in our mind that God is speaking, because these creatures, these four living angels, these four cherubim, are surrounding the throne of God. In the midst of the throne, the voice of God.

God says, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and the wine.” This is a judgment from God.

Here are the conditions

a quart of wheat for a denarius. A quart of wheat would sustain one person who had a very moderate appetite for one day.

A denarius is one day’s wage. So, you would work just to eat the bare minimum yourself, which would provide nothing for your family. All your work would only provide food enough for one person. Three quarts of barley for a denarius.

You could get more food to feed your family if you had settled for barley. But barley was an animal food. Barley was cheaper and at least a family could eat that. But it would take all their money for three quarts, which would feed three people animal food. Those are famine conditions.

Do not harm the oil and the wine. There have been a lot of different kinds of interpretations of that. Simply God warns them to be very careful with their wine and their oil, because it’s so precious. If all you have is raw wheat without any oil to mix with it, without any wine to go with it, it’s very difficult.

Bare staples suddenly become luxuries. Oil was used for the preparation of bread, for cooking, as was the wine.

Don’t waste it and don’t damage it, since it is precious. It will be measured out and treated with tremendous care. Global famine is coming fast. World peace, world war, world famine, and we have not even reached the first three-and-a-half year of this period.

The fourth seal: Death

V 7, When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” ⁸ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

A pale horse, an ashen horse. The Greek word is chlōros from which we get “chlorophyll” or “chlorine.” Usually it’s associated with Green, a sort of yellow, pale green. He sees this pale, green horse. The pale, ashen green pallor of death.

The one who sat on it has the name death.

What follows famine? Death.

What follows death? Hades. Another word for the grave. The grave comes the grave digger comes with his shovel to collect the bodies that death destroys. Hades is the right partner for death.

Authority was given by whom again? God. Because this is the unfolding of His title deed and His scroll it is His judgment. This tells us that 1.5 five billion of them will die. Unthinkable number of people. It could literally wipe out two continents.

Nuclear weapons and sophisticated arms make this possible now in a very brief time, whereas it may have been impossible in a time of bows and swords. But four things are going to do the killing: ➢ The sword. ➢ The war. ➢ The famine.

But here are two other ones: pestilence, and the wild beasts of the earth. These four are linked together several times in Scripture. These four have been predicted by God to be His means of final judgment in several Old Testament passages.

Jeremiah 14:12, When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

Jeremiah 24:10, And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”

Jeremiah 44:13, For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence,

We have the sword, which leads to famine, which leads to pestilence. Where the sword falls and famine exists, you have pestilence following along.

Ezekiel 6:11, Thus says the Lord God: “Pound your fists and stamp your feet, and say, ‘Alas, for all the evil abominations of

the house of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. Another word for pestilence: sword, famine, and plague.

Ezekiel 14:13-16, “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. ¹⁴ Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God. ¹⁵ “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate.

The presence of righteous men ultimately won’t stop the judgment.

Ezekiel 14:17-20, “Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I cut off man and beast from it, ¹⁸ even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered. 19 “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,”

says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.” If they couldn’t endure when one of them came, what are they going to do when all four hit at the same time? They are going to hit.

What is pestilence? The same Greek word as the word for “death,” thanatos. But here it refers to the cause of death. Jesus said there will be earthquakes following the famine. It could be a word that encompasses natural disaster.

If you have war at the level it’s going to be happening in this time with the kind of weapons that we have today, there is going to be a cataclysm of earthquakes created by the bombs and the missiles, and all that devastating destruction.

So, it could refer to the kind of earthquakes that are the result of that. It could refer to natural disasters that God is going to set loose, such as earthquakes and floods. It could refer to biological weapons and chemical weapons which we have in vast abundance, which could wipe out millions of people.

One quart of nerve gas can kill a million people. It could refer to diseases. 20 million people died in flu epidemics in World War I, because as nations moved around, they brought viruses with them. 6 million more died of typhus in World War I.

Mass death even by some pestilence disease like AIDS is possible. There are more massive killing bacteria around like covid. We underestimate the power of disease to wipe out whole populations. Do you know the deadliest creature on the face of the earth?

Not a snake, not a lion, not an alligator. Rat. Rats are historically the deadliest creature on the face of the earth.

Why? Rats are annually responsible for the loss of billions of dollars of food alone, and death all over the world. Rats infested with bubonic plague killed one-third of the population of Europe in the fourteenth century.

Rats can carry as many as thirty-five diseases at once. If ninety-five percent of the rat population is exterminated in the given area, it will replace itself in less than a year. It has killed more people than all the wars of history, and it always makes its home where men dwell.

With war, famine and earthquakes, sanitation goes. No medicine, living conditions descend to a primitive level, and the rats may be the wild beasts that run wild to kill. Divine judgment. This is only the beginning, far more to come.

Sadly, until the sixth seal that the people recognize that God is the source of this.

Is there any hope for our world? No, there’s no hope. This is inevitable.

Is there any hope for me? Yes! There is hope for you in Jesus Christ.