Eze 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
* the sword
* the famine
* the noisome beast
* the pestilence
Better explained here ...
1Ch 21:8-11 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing {see 1Ch 21:17}: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. And the LORD spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee
1Ch 21:12 Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
And in Jeremiah we see ...
Jer 21:7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
You can read more on your own here, as I did a BLB search for "sword" and "pestilence" but you could change the search to "sword" and "famine" or "famine" and "pestilence" and get even MORE results! https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=sword*+pestilence*&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1
These "four sore judgments" are also seen in Zechariah ...
Zec 1:8-12 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that [were] in the bottom; and behind him [were there] red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what [are] these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these [be]. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These [are they] whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? {As you can see, these *horses* represented the sword, famine, and pestilence in the scattering of Israel into Babylon.}
* red horses
* speckled horses
* white horses
No black horses mentioned above but they are mentioned later as an added judgment ... along with chariots ... again, from Zechariah ...
Zec 6:1-8 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains [were] mountains of brass. In the first chariot [were] red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses. Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What [are] these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me, These [are] the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black horses which [are] therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these {black and white} that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.
* red horses
* black horses
* white horses
* grisled and bay horses
The "two mountains" of Zec 6 represent two heads or two kingly leaders or two kingdoms/empires {Rev 17:9}, and being of brass probably signifies they were out of the Grecian (belly) empire that became the Roman & Ottoman (thighs) empires {Dan 2:32}. More on Dan 2's statue and how they become the beast(s) of Revelation at another time, God willing.
Now let's move on to John in Revelation, when the Lamb (Yeshua/Jesus) breaks the first four seals, and see if we can't put the puzzle together using the clues above ...
Rev 6:1-8 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse [that was] red: and [power] was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. 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. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
* white horse
* red horse
* black horse
* pale horse
NOTE that the seals began to be broken when the Lamb (Yeshua/Jesus) ARRIVED AT THE THRONE IN HEAVEN (as we see in Rev 5, since He alone is the only One worthy to open the sealed book -the sealed book of Dan 12!)
Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
John was instructed to NOT seal up his book of Revelation, which is the revealing of Daniel's book ...
Rev 22:10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
And how can we know when the "time of the end" is? John tells us ...
1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
Jesus told John, "the time is at hand". This means Yeshua/Jesus has been breaking the seals since His resurrection, these are not things to come ... they have been happening for the past two thousand years -to God it's only been two days- and as the time remaining gets shorter these things will happen with more frequency & intensity. John wrote both books, 1John and Revelation, within his own lifetime, probably within just a few years of each other.
So now, the thing we need to do is to go back and study, rather ... compare, Daniel's sealed prophecy to John's revealed prophecy. For now tho, it is my hope that this post has shed some light on the horses/horsemen of the bible. They are, and always have been, God's "four sore judgments" for a backsliding, idolatrous people, whether they be Israel/Judah or any other nation proclaiming to belong to Him.
It is interesting to note that there are currently 12 nations bearing ALL FOUR of these colors in their national flags, those colors being: red, green (bay = Greek: chloros), black, and white. Of those 12 nations, 3 are not *fully recognized* as nations, leaving us with a count of nine that are fully recognized ... but ... ONE of those three nations is in the process of recognition ... can you guess which one? When that occurs, and I believe that will be soon, there will be 10 fully recognized nations with all four colors in their national flags. Could this be the conglomeration necessary to form the 10 nation beast? Time will tell!
Red, green, black and white
Afghanistan
Iraq
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Libya
Palestine (de facto state, limited recognition)
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (de facto state, limited recognition)
Sudan
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Somaliland (de facto state, limited recognition)
03/28/16 ~ Thanks to my husband for pointing out some additional info that I'm adding here.
Although this article is mostly about the colors of the horses/horsemen and what they may represent as seen in both the OT & the NT, this new revelation is of interest so I've added it here. There are yet other, BIGGER, nations with some of the "four horsemen colors":
1) Saudi Arabia's flag (not listed above) only has two of the four colors.
2) Egypt's flag (not listed above) only has two of the four colors.
3) Iran's flag (not listed above, aspiring for nuclear power) has three of the four colors.
4) Pakistan's flag (not listed above, a nuclear power) has two of the four colors.
5) China's flag is red (one of the four colors) and yellow.
6) Russia's flag is red, white (two of the four colors) and blue.
7) USA's flag is red, white (two of the four colors) and blue.
The point being, if all four colors possibly represent the end-time beast kingdom of 10 heads and 7 horns from Daniel's beast prophecies that also relate to John's beast(s) in Revelation; then they don't include the nations that only have some of the colors but not all ... or ... those that don't have all the colors play a lesser role, if any. So, the nations/kingdoms such as: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, China, Russia, and USA ... not having ALL FOUR colors, but having some of the colors ... may, or may not, be significant. They either play a small role, perhaps being the driving forces behind the ones that do have all four colors ... or ... they play no role at all. It's interesting to note that Iraq does have all four colors, yet today it is not a *major* world power.
I am more inclined to believe the four horsemen of the first four seals in Revelation 6 are not specific to nations but actually relate to God's four sore judgments sent into all the earth as I noted above.
As for the beast(s) of Daniel & Revelation, my personal feeling is that it may be the UN, which (I think) at some point in the future will recognize 'Palestine' as a nation and set the land of the -state of Israel- back to the 1967 so-called borders (with mutual land swaps) ... this of course will cause a war. Unless, they can get Israel to attack Iran to avoid allowing Iran to get itself nuclear capable. I suppose time will tell.
Here's another interesting graphic, this one shows 8 of the 12 nations with all four colors.
I believe that these four horses/horsemen were released when "the Lamb that was slain" {Jesus ~ Yeshua, of Revelation chapter 5} arrived at the throne of God in heaven. IMHO, five of the "seven seals" have been open for almost 2,000 years and their destruction is well documented from then until now. As time gets closer for Jesus {Yeshua} to return, these signs will become more frequent and severe, just like birth pangs. The kingdom of God is about to be revealed. More on how I come to that understanding can be found in another article I did here ... http://thelambswife.blogspot.com/2016/01/011116-will-jesus-come-for-his-bride.html
Even so, whether the horses represent the nations/kingdoms listed with all four colors, or only some of the colors, or don't relate at all, I am going to keep looking up ... our redemption draweth nigh. I do believe that Jesus {Yeshua} IS coming soon!
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Thanks for reading ;o}
{Revised: 09/21/16, fixed a typo, made the text larger for easier reading.
Revised: 03/28/16, corrected a couple of typos, added info about bigger nation flags, a link to another of my blog posts, more of my thoughts, and I added another graphic. I did not create the graphics shown, I saw them on posts in facebook, I have no idea who made them. Curly bracket comments within scriptures are mine; KJV used throughout this site. Blue text is God speaking; Red text is Jesus speaking.}
