As a Futurist, I believe the next event to happen is the first rider of the apocalypse to emerge on the world scene. Our preacher a couple weeks ago said he thinks the antichrist is now alive on earth and Pastor Rusty has never speculated in the 30 years I've known him to be in the end times, but he just recently suggested we are, and I believe him. Revelation was not fulfilled in AD70 with the fall of Israel, but is coming soon and the great commission was begun before Jesus ascended to heaven. Why would Christians still be waiting when the Lord himself asked us to start 2000 years ago with the great commission?
Matthew 28:16-19
Engage in the Great Commission- Ergatas
As best I can discern, this first rider is the antichrist.
Hi Jeffwhosoever,
Just another possibility to mull over. As I read the Revelation and the chronology that is unfolded with its account, I'm rather inclined to believe that the four horsemen have long been roaming the earth.
We begin in chapter 4, after the seven letters that Jesus has John write to the seven churches, have been written describing the condition of the beginning churches started by Paul and the first apostles. The letters detail some good and some bad issues within these new churches, but the letters obviously aren't about the churches at the end of the age, because they allow for time to change. Many believe these letters were written for the churches today, but I believe the fact that they are very specific and only deal with the area and cities where early churches were started, that they actually were intended for those specific early churches. However, yes, fellowships today are still making a lot of those same mistakes and so I can certainly see why some would think that.
So, in chapter 4 we read that John hears a voice like a trumpet that says to him,
And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Then John writes for us a description of what he sees all around him as he stands in heaven. This pretty much completes what chapter 4 is about.
In chapter 5, we read that John begins to weep because a search is going on throughout all of creation for one who is sinless before God and, therefore, worthy to open a scroll that John sees in the hand of the Mighty One. However, the search comes to an end with our attention being drawn to one who looks like a lamb who has been slain and it is explained that this is the one, who through the prophecies of the Scriptures is Jesus. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has triumphed, the angel tells John.
This picture of Jesus would have been how he was seen after the crucifixion. So, John is seeing Jesus in his crucified condition. However, the Scriptures, even in the beginning of the Revelation, show us that Jesus is well and good when John first began this vision. In chapter one, John sees Jesus like this:
I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
This is clearly Jesus speaking the underlined words. He is the only one who was ever once dead, but rose to eternal life. So, it would seem that in chapter 5, John has gone back in time to a time when Jesus looked as if he had been slain. Then we read of the scroll and the seals and that Jesus is now, after having proved his righteousness, able to open the scroll by removing each seal.
So in chapter 6, Jesus begins and pulls off the first seal. That first seal reveals a rider on a white horse, holding a bow, who is given a crown and rides forth to conquer. Now, and I see that you subscribe to this understanding, some believe that this horsemen is the Anti-christ of the last days who works to bring suffering to the people of God and to rob God of His earthly inheritance. I contend that he is not that one. I believe that this describes the going forth of the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus. That he was released shortly after Jesus was crucified and that the purpose and journey of this horsemen is to spread the gospel all across the globe, conquering the hearts of men.
The release of these horsemen is not something that we sit today waiting to be released upon the earth, but have rather long been released upon the earth. They are today working the feats for which they were sent, and have been since shortly after Jesus' resurrection.
Then we see a second horseman released and he goes forth bent on taking peace from the earth and to make people kill one another. Now, I think it pretty clear that peace on the earth has been a real struggle and people have been killing one another by the boatloads ever since the world began to expand from the days of Jesus. This horseman has also been riding to and fro upon the earth since about the time the gospel was released upon the earth. And, it has gotten progressively worse as he continues his journey. We are living, and have been living in the days of this horseman and his assigned work.
Then we see a third horseman released. He is holding a set of scales and John hears a voice saying,
“Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” This describes the economic struggles that we make for ourselves because of our greed and lust for stuff. He has been riding around since early on creating the struggles for people in their work. The hardness with which we have to work in order to meet our consumer driven society.
Finally, we come to the fourth horseman and his purpose is to spread famine and disease and murder and war all over the earth.
They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. So, as I understand the passage of history since Jesus' resurrection, this horseman holds responsibility for all the many, many plagues of sickness and disease that have come upon people over the passage of the centuries. The many, many wars and the sad and deadly famines and finally those killed by animals. These things have happened for the many, many centuries that have passed since Jesus ascension.
So, just consider that these horseman do not stand waiting in heaven today to be released at some later date as a part of the tribulation of the Anti-christ, but they have long been released and have been doing their assigned tasks for quite a long time now. The gospel has gone out into the world and is still, to this day conquering the hearts of people. Our peace has been under attack for many, many centuries and we have been killing one another throughout these centuries and it has gotten progressively worse. Our economic struggles also continue to get worse and worse as we grow in our lust for stuff. Finally, wars, famine and plague have been fairly constant parts of life for a long time now.
The first four seals have long been opened and Jesus continues to rip the seals from the scroll. The sixth seal is opened and we see under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. However, they are told to wait until the fullness of their like minded brothers are brought in. So this is not something happening in the last days, but something ongoing from the going forth of the gospel. Now, I contend that this is not a reference to all believers, but only to those who have been slain for keeping the word of God and their steadfast testimony. The first apostles, the Justin Martyr type, and the John Wycliffs, and William Tyndales. After all, this is what the Scriptures declare, that these souls were those who had been slain because of their great faith. Not those who just died believing in the hope of Jesus.
Finally, we come to the sixth seal. Now, I'm not sure that Jesus has opened that one yet. There doesn't seem to be any historical record of such things as described happening after the opening of the sixth seal in the Scriptures.
So, just an understanding worthy, I believe, of consideration. As with all such things, I believe that any one who would truly seek the knowledge and wisdom of the Scriptures, to do so with the help of the Holy Spirit. The one that Jesus declared to us would lead us into all truth.
God bless,
Ted
