Revelation 6
by David Groendyk

As we get into the body of Revelation with all its visions and symbols and imagery, it’s important for us to remember that John is not meaning for the average reader to expertly pinpoint what every last detail means. I think it’s most helpful for us to focus on the big picture and see how some of the details in the visions explain that big picture. To that end, the one-sentence summary of Revelation 6 is this (taken from William Hendriksen’s commentary): This chapter deals with the tribulation that God’s people undergo in this world. The first four seals that are opened in this chapter explain what life looks like on earth for every believer in the church, and the fifth and sixth remind us of future realities.

The rider on the white horse is a picture of Christ himself. This isn’t the last time we’ll see Christ wearing a crown on a white horse coming to conquer. We’ll see the same vision in 19:11–16. This is meant to convey that, despite the tribulations that come, Christ is actively ruling and exercising his kingship on the earth. He is not absent but personally fighting for each one of his children.

As for the next three horsemen, these are likely taken from Old Testament passages such as Ezekiel 5:17, Ezekiel 14:21, Zechariah 1:8, and Zechariah 6:1, among others. In all of these passages, the horses are instruments of judgment that God uses to refine and strengthen his people. The red horse symbolizes religious persecution, and this is exactly what we would expect after the white horse. “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother…” is what Jesus himself said (Matt. 10:34–35). The gospel divides believer from unbeliever and necessarily brings with it persecution. The black horse represents economic hardship. The prices for wheat and barley are extraordinarily high—one quart of wheat costs an entire day’s wages! Though this could be a reference to general mankind suffering, it’s natural to see a connection between the red and black horses; the believers who are persecuted will also suffer economic hardship (cf. Rev. 13:17). Christian business owners who refuse to lie, cheat, and steal end their fiscal year with lower profits. Bakeries are forced to close because they don’t espouse the same worldview as unbelievers. We’re not unfamiliar with this sort of economic persecution, even today and even in America. Many times, believers will be poor in this life. The pale horse brings disease, famine, war, and death. These are universal tribulations for all mankind which believers do not escape. Though we as Christians are no longer “of the world” we are still “in the world”. We should never expect to be freed from the general sufferings of this life. But for the Church, these general sufferings take on a new meaning; they are intended to drive us closer to Christ and to purify our trust and reliance in him.

All of these things the horses bring are a result of sin, and all of them are used as instruments of the Lord for the purification and spiritual advancement of his people. In other words, don’t think that your trials are “random” or that God is not watching. No, he is actively doing something in every cancer diagnosis, every fatal car crash, every pandemic, and every slim fiscal year. Don’t waste your trials. See them as an opportunity to lean more heavily on God.

Here is another comfort. When the fifth seal is opened, John sees all those believers who were persecuted by the red horse rider, and they all are given a white robe and rest. When the sixth seal is opened, the final judgment comes. (This is another good reason to think of Revelation as seven different sections that re-tell the same story seven different ways—here at the end of chapter 6, the end of the world comes, and yet the book keeps going, and later the world will end all over again!) The universe is literally torn apart at the seams, and all those who persecuted God’s people run for the hills in dreadful desperation. The scene is horrific, and the question is poignant: Who can stand during that great day of wrath? The answer is: Only those who received Christ and put on the white robe. Only those who trust in Christ will have rest. As surely as God will come again to destroy all evil, those who trust him will have never-ending rest. What a great way to describe heaven for those who have spent their lives suffering: rest. We will find rest one day. Until then, remember that God is on his heavenly throne (ch. 4), that God’s plan is being accomplished (ch. 5), and that Christ is actively ruling and conquering (6:2).