Seven Seals - Part 3

Interesting Notes

In discussing the seven seals I left out a lot of details for the sake of brevity.  Below are additional notes that I find to be very interesting and thought that I should get posted up.
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"Come"

You will notice the Living Creatures who say "come" prior to each horse emerging.  Some say the creatures are calling out the horses and their riders.

I believe they are calling out to Jesus to "come" with the opening of each seal.

It is His Coming that the opening of the seals represents... it is the purpose of the opening of the scroll.

The living creatures are anticipating and praying for the return of Christ as each seal is broken and upon the opening of each seal they say "come".
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Zechariah's Horses

The picture of the four horse in Revelation is not the first time horse appear in Scripture.  Some say these horses are mentioned in Zechariah 6.

Zec 6:1-3  Now I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming forth from between the two mountains; and the mountains were bronze mountains.  With the first chariot were RED HORSES, with the second chariot BLACK HORSE, with the third chariot WHITE HORSES, and with the fourth chariot STRONG DAPPLED HORSES.

Three of the four horses match in color... the white, red, and black.  The fourth horse mentioned here differs from "dappled" to the fourth in Revelation as "greenish".

Dappled refers to being spotted.  The fourth horse of Revelation may be spotted as well and John simply didn't report the spots... only the greenish color.

Second, Zechariah's horse pull chariots while the horse of the Revelation have riders.  Revelation doesn't explicitly mention how the "riders" are riding... it just refers to them as riders.

The chariots are consistent with other divine horses Scripture.  God revealed chariots to Elisha's servant (2 Ki 6:17) and Elijah was carried from the presence of Elisha in a chariot (2 Ki 2:12).

What's really interesting is the the cherubim (the four living creatures) are described as having wheels (Eze 10:2-13).  They are even described as chariots.

1 Ch 28:18  and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the model of the chariot, even the cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

Maybe this is why the four living creatures are involved in the first four seals.  Were they carrying the riders?

Returning to Zechariah we notice that the horse come out from between two mountains of bronze.

Mountain is a symbol of a kingdom (Dan 2:35).  Bronze is a metal and a symbol used in the same exact dream interpretation:

Dan 2:39  After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth. 

This is the kingdom of Greece (note to Glen: double-check).

By combining the symbols we can see that the two mountains of bronze are two sub-kingdoms that came out of the bronze kingdom - Greece.

Two dominant empires came out Alexander's Hellenistic Empire... the Seleucid (north) and the Ptolemic (south) empires.

Daniel 11 clearly states that these two empires will rise to power again in the end times:

Dan 11:40  At the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through.

Zechariah also references north and south countries.

Zec 6:6  with one of which the black horses are going forth to the north country; and the white ones go forth after them, while the dappled ones go forth to the south country.

It is said that these mountains of bronze are the modern inheritors of the king of the north and the king of the south.  The re-formation of these kingdoms happens shortly before Daniel's 70th week.

Also notice above that the black horses go to the north country with the white horses following them while the dappled horse head to the south country.  Zechariah doesn't say where the red horses go so we must assume they stay put... on the border between the two mountains of bronze.

What do these horses represent?

Zec 6:4-5  Then I spoke and said to the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these, my lord?"

The angel replied to me, "These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth,

These horses are Heavenly spirits as are the four horses of the Revelation.  It is God who is permitting the horses and their riders to come forth.  It is Jesus who is sending them forth as He opens the seals.

Also notice that the white horses go to the north.  This is significant because it tells us the deceiver on the white horse will arise from the revived Seleucid Empire that the Bible calls "the king of the north".
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Color of the Horses

Three of Zechariah's horses are an easy match to the Revelation - white, black, and red.

The fourth horse of Revelation is described by two Greek words:

[G5515 - chloros], green

chloros is the root word of our English "chlorophyll"... substance which makes our grass green.

LXX  [G4164 - poikilos], many colored, various

... and one Hebrew word:

[H1261 - barod], spotted, marked: - dappled

In Zechariah's day the color of the fourth horse has a significant additional meaning.  In Hebrew, the words are translated as a "strong speckled" horse.  This reminds me of the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's statue... iron mixed with clay.  The iron was strong and the mixture with clay resulted in a "speckled" manner.

In the Greek Septuagint (LXX) the translation is rendered as "various colored" which also denotes the mixture.

If you notice the color of the horse in Revelation - white, red, black, and green... do those colors ring any bells?

How about the colors of the flags for Islamic nations in the Middle East?

All of them contain only these four colors.  Some contain two, or some three of these colors, but none of the flags contain any color different than the four horses of Revelation.

Mohammed's favorite color is known to be green and is considered the color of Islam... you've all seen the green headbands, etc. that they wear.

The green horse has its rider as Death, followed by hades and as some of you know, I've been saying for years that the Antichrist and his minions will be Islamic.

This hatred between Islam and Israel is nothing new.  It is the ancient hatred, the olam ebah that I've written about in the past.  I will be posting a blog on this soon.

This all goes back to Isaac and Ishmael and is carried on through Jacob and Esau and on down through the generations:

Eze 35:5-6  Because you [Edom] have had everlasting enmity [olam ebah] and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of the punishment of the end, therefore as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "I will give you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you.   
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Nicolaitans

I touched on the Nicolaitans in Part 1 but wanted to note some things that I left out.

Rev 2:14-15  But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

In Part 1 I mentioned that the two Greek words that form the word Nicolaitans are:

nikao (overcome) and lao (people of God)

Balaam is noted as a false (deceptive) teacher:

2 Pet 2:13-19  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 

The rider of the white horse is a type of Balaam, a false prophet, deceiving and trying to deceive.
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