The Black Horseman (Part 2)

Revelation 6 vs 5 and 6

Last week we heard the angel tell John - come and see. Now we continue with John's vision.

John says: And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

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.

John sees a black horse and rider when the third seal is opened. He notices the rider is carrying something in his hands, a pair of balances. What is the significance of what the rider is carrying? What are balances used for. Balances turn up several times in the bible: (1) To reflect justice.

Remember, we said that this horseman follows the horseman of war. The world war ended in 1945 and the United Nations was started. Following the world war there was an upsurge of a focus on the equality of man and the rights of human beings. Justice was the focus following the evils of the world war. The black horseman holds the scales or balances indicating that justice seems to play a big part in this era.

Yet the bible says, there are those who have the balances, but yet their weights are not just.

"Shall I count pure those with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth" (Micah 6:11-12).

So even though there is the presumption of justice, this horseman is likely representing the fact that this justice is superficial. In fact, behind this justice is lies and deceit.

(2) The balances or scales also represents measurement or scarcity (famine).

John hears a voice cry out and say that a day's wage is required to buy bread and to buy barley. These are basic staples.

The message here is that following this period of pretended justice comes a time of deceit followed by a shortage of food, and then inflation.

The day's wage relates to the poor, but notice the voice says don't hurt or damage the oil or the wine. Oil and wine would be the products the rich care about. So while the poor are struggling to buy bread and feed themselves the rich will be caught up in luxurious living.

I believe we are currently living in the time of the Black Horseman. We should therefore expect to see scarcity, increased costs and the rich growing richer.

But the seals do not end there, join us next we as we explore what happens next and consider how long we have before it comes to pass.