They've Been Here All Along

I used to think that Revelation was the scariest book in the Bible, what with creatures having too many horns eyes and crowns to fit on one head and the four horsemen who are waiting for God to give the Word so they can start smiting people and spreading misery before Jesus throws a mountain on the beasts' heads and sends whoever's left on earth straight to Hell...pfft

When someone warns you about the "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and goes on about how the end times are upon us, it just means that they don't know that the Greek word for Revelation is Apokalupsis. So at the time John wrote the letter to the seven churches "Apocalypse" didn't mean "end times;" we just think he meant that because it makes for better stories, and because the god guys from way back needed a way to scare the sheeple into doing and believing whatever they said to do or believe.

Here's the truth of the matter: Revelation uses symbolic language to reveal what went on in God's eternal throne room/command center during  the course of the war that the Serpent started in the garden. Spoiler Alert: Jesus is his secret weapon, and He wins.

This post isn't long enough to fully explain why John uses symbols, but it helps to know that John was living in exile and he was being watched, so instead of mentioning the names of Caesars and Kings, he wrote his subversive letter in code.

John's account of the war starts with a single scroll that has seven seals. 

 “Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

John

Revelation 6:1-2

(NASB)

Cain...Pharaoh...Caesar...Napoleon...Hitler...

Cain is one of the earliest examples (and the first example recorded in the Bible) of the tyrants and dictators who ride the white horse.

“When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.”

John
Revelation 6:3-4

(NASB)

Nephilim...the king's muscle.

Cain and his descendants couldn't have survived much less achieved what they did without building an army to first terrorize their victims, and then fight against any who resisted them.

“When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

John

Revelation 6:5-6

(NASB)

Cain built a city...

...he was the law in Enoch. He set wages, controlled prices and protected the most lucrative exports and luxuries in favor of the ruler and the elite. It might not be far off the mark to call the black horse Tyranny, except for the fact that any form of government can be tyrannical depending on what the people will allow or even encourage.

“When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death: and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

John

Revelation 6:7-8

(NASB)

The Spoils of War.

Is it any surprise that so much of the suffering in the world is because of the the shit we do, the shit we allow, the shit we say to justify the shitty things we do to fight the shit? We get so caught up in winning the war that we lose sight of our mission, winning the peace.

"We have met the enemy and he is us" (Walt Kelly attributed).

Cain, the world, gets four seals, but there is another man who plays a part in our narrative, and even though he never Breathed a word, his blood cries out from the ground. He gets one seal.

"When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" and there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also."

John

Revelation 6:9-11

(NASB)

We'll open the sixth seal in a week or two, but the seventh seal, along with the seven trumpets and the seven bowls that follow, cover events from the time of the Exodus to the time when John was exiled by the Romans.

Next time: Signs Times and Progress (part two (part one))

Peace Out Y'all