We need to have a vision of world history from Christ’s ascension to the end of this age and realize there’s a four-horse race continuing through the entire age of the church until Christ’s return (see Rev. 4-5).
In Rev. 5 John saw a scroll written within and on the back, and this was sealed up with seven seals, and no one in heaven and on earth and under the earth was able to open this scroll.
So he wept much because of this, and one of the angelic elders said, Do not weep; behold, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome, so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.
And when John looked, he saw a Lamb; this Lamb is the Lion-Lamb, Jesus Christ, who is the Lion toward the enemy for the defeat of the enemy, and a Lamb toward God’s people for our judicial redemption and organic salvation.
In this scroll we have the entire thought of God concerning the church, Israel, the world, and concerning the universe.
In Rev. 6 the first four seals were open, and they were signified by four horses; these four horses reveal the real history of the world from God’s point of view.
In God’s eyes the world history is a four-horse race; three of these horses are bad news and one is good news.
The first horse is the gospel; the good news of the gospel is spread in the midst of the bad news until the day that the good news becomes prevailing on the whole earth!
The gospel, war, famine, and death are all running along throughout the age of the church as a four-horse race, and one day all the bad news will be replaced by the good news, war is replaced by peace, famine is replaced by abundant supply, and death is replaced by life.
If we look around us in the world we hear news and rumours of war, famine, diseases and death, and the gospel being preached.
We need to be the overcomers who ride the victorious horse of the gospel, going forth to conquer and taking the lead all over the earth.
Especially as we go through this COVID-19 pandemic and there’s varying degrees of lockdown in countries around the world, when people are aware of the disease spreading and death increasing, we need to ride the victorious horse of the gospel, spreading the gospel of the kingdom all over the earth for a testimony, and then the end will come!
Hallelujah, the rider of the white horse, the horse of the gospel, has a bow with no arrow, for the arrow has been shot into the heart of the enemy – the gospel is victorious! Hallelujah!
May we have God’s view of the history of the world to make the kingdom of this world the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ!
The World History in the Church Age is a Four-Horse Race: the Gospel, War, Death, and Famine
In Rev. 6 we see this four-horse race, which gives us an insight of the real world history in the church age, from the ascension of Christ to the end of this age; the four riders are not real persons but personified things.
The first seal is a white horse and its rider (vv. 1-2), signifying the spreading of the gospel.
The rider of this horse has a bow but with no arrow; a bow is for fighting, but here he has a bow without an arrow, indicating that the arrow has already been shot to destroy the enemy!
This is indicated by the crown given to him; this signifies that the gospel has already won the victory and is crowned with the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4).
Hallelujah, Christ’s fighting for the constitution of the gospel of peace is finished and the victory is won: the enemy is defeated, the gospel is prevailing, and all those who preach the gospel wear a crown, doing all things in the victory of Christ!
When we preach the gospel we shouldn’t feel shameful but rather we should feel glorious, for to preach the gospel is a glorious thing! When we preach the gospel, we ride the white horse victoriously, and we go forth conquering!
There may be opposition and attack, there may be persecution and trials, but when we preach the gospel we ride the white horse and we conquer all things, for Christ has already won the victory and the enemy has been defeated!
Amen, we preach the gospel by standing in the victory of Christ, and we spread the good news all over the earth by riding the victorious white horse!
What a privilege, what a glory, and what great matter this is! The second seal is a red horse and its rider; red in Rev. 6:4 signifies the shedding of blood. The red horse is a symbol of the raging war, which is a matter of shedding blood.
From the Lord’s ascension to the end of this age, there has been wars, rumours of wars, revolutions, uprisings, and all kinds of such things, and the shedding of blood was present.
The red horse of war rides along the white horse of the gospel; the gospel takes the lead when war happens, and the good news spreads by being helped by the wars taking place.
The third seal consists of the black horse and its rider signifies the spreading of famine (Rev. 6:5-6). Wherever there’s war, famine follows. The rider of the black horse had a balance in his hand, and he was measuring the food stuffs.
A balance, a scale used to weigh precious things, being used here to weigh food signifies the scarcity of food; a quart of wheat, good pay for a day’s labor, and three quarts of barley, also good pay for a day’s labor (Matt. 20:2), signify the high price of food in its scarcity.
Black indicates the dearth (Jer. 14:1-4), signifying the color of the visage of famished people (Lam. 4:8-9; 5:9-10). Where war is, famine follows and it spreads, causing a black visage.
Do not harm the oil and the wine (oil and wine are for man’s pleasure — Psa. 104:15 — and are always in short supply and become precious in famine) signifies the presence of famine.
The fourth seal consists of a pale horse and its rider; it signifies the spreading of death, and Hades follows it. Authority was given to this rider to kill with the sword and with famine and with death and by the beasts of the earth the fourth part of the earth.
Pale signifies the color of the appearance of those stricken with the plague; this is the pale horse of death. Hades follows death; Hades receives and retains those whom death has killed.
The four-horse race of the gospel, war, famine, and death is going on all the time, and the gospel horse takes the lead; may we see this vision of the world history and be those riding the white horse of the gospel until the end of this age!
We praise You Lord for winning the victory: You fought for the constitution of the gospel of peace, You obtained peace, and now the gospel rides victoriously all over the earth! Hallelujah, the gospel we preach today has a crown, the glory of Christ, and we are not shameful or weak preachers of the gospel but victorious and glorious riders of the white horse of the gospel! Amen, Lord, may we see this four-horse race taking place throughout the age of the church – the gospel, war, famine, and death, and may we be those riding the victorious horse of the gospel to preach the good news until the end of this age!
Exercising our Spirit of Faith and Preaching the Full Gospel until the End of this Age
There’s a four-horse race taking place throughout the age of grace: the gospel, war, famine, and death ride together, and the gospel is victorious, taking the lead.
When we speak of the gospel, we shouldn’t think that it is merely the initial gospel of redemption; rather, the gospel includes all the truths of God’s eternal economy.
In Rom. 1:1 Paul said that he is a slave of Christ Jesus, a called apostle, separated unto the gospel of God; in v. 15 he says that he wants to preach the gospel to those who are in Rome.
Those in Rome were already believers, and they didn’t need the initial gospel; however, they needed the entire book of Romans, which is the gospel of God.
The gospel includes justification, sanctification, the Body of Christ, and the local churches, consummating in the New Jerusalem.
The gospel is accompanied by war, famine, and death; when war, famine, and death are taking place, the gospel horse takes the lead.
Today it is apparent that we see the pale horse, the spreading of death caused by pestilence and famine; however, we need to realize that the gospel horse is also running, and the full gospel is preached by many victorious riders of the white horse of the gospel.
The good news include everything from justification, the forgiveness of sins, through every step of God’s organic salvation – regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification – to make us the bride of Christ, exactly the same as Christ!
The full gospel preached during this four-horse race in the church age is to make men into the glorious bride of Christ, the same as Christ in life and nature to be His beautiful bride and to bring Him back and usher in the kingdom of God!
However, as Luke 18:7-8 says, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Oh, may we be those who pray to be the people of faith, those who would be receptacles, the vessels of faith on earth when the Son of Man comes!
What is faith? According to Heb. 11:6 he who comes forward to God must believe that God is; we need to exercise our spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13) and refuse to pay attention to our mind which is full of doubts.
We need to exercise our spirit of faith and believe that God is and we are not!
Hallelujah, God is the only One, the unique One in everything, and we are NOTHING in everything. True faith annuls us; we are annulled by faith, and we are infused with Christ Himself as our faith.
When we exercise our spirit of faith, we live God, we express God, and we minister God to people.
It is by exercising our spirit of faith that we can preach the full gospel of God, realizing that there’s a four-horse race in the age of the church, and the gospel takes the lead.
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit of faith to believe that God is and that we are not! Amen, hallelujah, faith is in our spirit and doubts are in our mind, so we exercise our spirit of faith to preach the full and complete gospel of God, riding victoriously until the end of this age! Oh Lord, when You come back, we want to be Your overcoming bride who is filled with You as faith, so that You may find faith on earth! We believe that God is everything and the unique One, and we are nothing; this One is everything in us, and He is the victorious One in us preaching the gospel for a testimony to all the nations, even while war, famine, and death are going on. Amen, Lord Jesus!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1990, vol. 3, “The Prophecy of the Four ‘Sevens’ in the Bible,” chs. 1-2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 1, The World Situation as the Indicator of God’s Move on Earth, the Vision of World History from Christ’s Ascension to the End of This Age, the Spreading of the Truths of the Lord’s Recovery as a Preparation for His Coming Back, and Persevering in Prayer, While Discerning “the Signs of the Times”.
- Hymns on this topic:
– An uplifted gospel have we, / One we’re not ashamed to proclaim. / Our gospel’s the highest of all, / For it is God’s goal and God’s aim. / No longer so lowly and poor, / We’ve found that we’re God’s holy sons. / No more will we preach as before; / Now each man on earth can be won. (Hymns #1292)
– The harvest’s ripe! We are preaching the full gospel now! / The fields are white! We are preaching the full gospel now! / For this men search— / Christ and the church! / Let us reap the harvest, preaching the full gospel now! (Hymns #1294)
– God made man a vessel he / With a spirit, soul, body. / God to man his content be / That through man His glory see. / Man does have God’s image true, / Noble in his status, too. / But God’s life man also needs / Divine nature to receive. (Hymns #1404)
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