1I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, “Come and see!” 2Then a white horse appeared, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.
3When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” 4Another came out, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.
5When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come and see!” And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. 6I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!”
7When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see!” 8And behold, a pale horse, and the name of he who sat on it was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.
9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. 10They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
12I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. 13The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. 14The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. 16They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
The fourth seal judgment brought death to a fourth of the earth by sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts by the rider on an ashen horse labeled “Death” who is followed by Hades.
As Jesus opens the fourth seal, the fourth living creature gives the same command. The repetition of these scenes connects them and emphasizes God’s control of these events.
“Behold” is repeated, indicating the importance of this scene. The color of the horse is difficult to translate into English. Often, English translations call the color “pale.” It is a kind of greenish color that indicates decay. This horse is decaying, what might be thought of as a zombie horse. Its rider is named “Death.” The idea of Hades following is that it is collecting Death’s victims.
The “rider” is given authority to kill a quarter of humanity. That means more than two billion people will die around the world. The four ways people will die from this are, first, “the sword,” which means violent deaths. This harks back to the red horse and the conflict it brings. Famine is the consequence of armed conflict. The term translated as “death” can also mean plagues. Wild beasts attacking humans is another consequence of governmental collapse.
This judgment is the product of the previous three. The four “horses” appear to be four stages of God’s judgment in the first half of the Tribulation that will continue till Jesus returns in chapter 19. For the people living on earth, these judgments will seem human-caused rather than divine judgments. They may also be explained away by the Antichrist and his followers. However, they occur by God’s sovereign direction and begin His judgment on that portion of mankind that rejects Him and chooses to follow Satan through the Antichrist.