“And when He (the Lamb) 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 to them (the four horsemen) over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword (#2), and with hunger (#3), and with death and with the beasts of the earth” (#3) which Jesus called “pestilence” in Matthew 24:7 (#4).  The word “pale” is more correctly rendered “green, putrid, sickly.”

This part of the vision has taken us from 31 A.D. until the present time.  The “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” are now riding at full speed throughout the earth.  They are spreading their deadly curses just as they have been doing for many years as mankind has grown ever more rebellious toward God.  The horsemen will continue to ride until Christ’s return, at which time He will bring to an end the “times of the Gentiles”–control of the world by heathen people.

This world has experienced the effects of the first four riders since the Lamb revealed them to the Apostle John nearly 2000 years ago.  The effects of their curses on mankind have intensified over time.  The news filling our t.v. screens reveals just how things are changing, and rapidly so.  Situations that would not have been allowed even 20 years ago have now become commonplace.  Evil is increasing exponentially as man concocts ever more ways to defy God and serve himself.  Let us now look to the removal of the fifth seal for a glimpse of what we can expect to take place on earth in the immediate future.

The opening of the fifth seal will reveal that two mass martyrdoms of Christians will take place before Christ returns.  One has already taken place, the other will take place in the near future.  With the opening of the fifth seal we will learn when the first mass martyrdom took place, who conducted it and why.  We will also learn, generally speaking, when the second mass murder will take place.  This future mass killing of God’s saints will involve people who are living at this time.  The Scriptures, combined with secular history, will reveal that the religious descendants of the first mass killers will kill the spiritual descendants of those who died in the first martyrdom.

Let us now look to Revelation 6:9,10 which speaks of a time in the near future when the world will be in the midst of the worst period of terror, death and destruction the world will have experienced up to that time: “And when He had opened the fifth seal I saw under the alter the souls of them that were (had been) slain for the Word of God and for their testimony (witness) in the past.  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?'”

John, in vision, is watching and hearing the martyrs of the Middle Ages asking God when He would take vengeance on those who killed them.  They know that “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”  They know that at some point He will pour out His wrath on the people who had killed those described in Revelation 18.  They know that He will afflict them with seven plagues just before He returns to put an end to the mess man has made of the earth.  During the Middle Ages more than 50 million people, many of them Christians, had been tortured and killed by a huge, Satan-led church because they would not obey her edicts, but rather clung to the commandments of God.  Christ will destroy that counterfeit, two-headed, religious monster just before He returns.  Now listen to John’s description of what must happen before the Lord unleashes His plagues on the whore and her harlot daughters who will make up that end-time, world-ruling church.  See Revelation 17:1-5 for a glimpse of this church called “Mystery, Babylon.”

“And white robes (symbolizing holiness) were given to every one of them (those martyred earlier), and it was said unto them that they should rest yet a little season until their fellow servants (of the Lord) who were their brethren, would be killed as they had been” (Rev. 6:11).  Note it: Christ will not take vengeance on this great counterfeit church until she has conducted another mass murder of His people.

This future martyrdom will take place during the Great Tribulation (Mat. 24:9,21,22).  This 2 1/2 year period of horror is not caused by the wrath of God being poured out.  Rather, it will be a time when Satan will use his world-ruling government and church to punish a large segment of people who find themselves in the Tribulation (Rev. 12:12).  This group is not God’s Very Elect.  Before the tribulation begins God will take them to a place of safety where He will protect and provide for them over the following 3 1/2 years.  During this time of terror Satan will afflict a group of people who, having known the Truth and having obeyed it temporarily prior to the Tribulation, had then turned away from Him.  Because of this He will cast them into the Great Tribulation.  As the fifth seal reveals, many of these people, having realized their mistake, will repent and turn back to Him during the Tribulation.  Their return will cost them their lives at the hands of Satan’s world-ruling government called the “Beast” and the church that guides it (see Rev. 17:1-5).  We will study this beast government and the false church that guides it in the next series.  L.J.