Four Horsemen

Ranko Stefanovic (Revelation of Jesus Christ, 229-30) notes that interpreting the first of the horsemen of the apocalypse – the white rider – is determinative for the understanding the whole sequence.

The first rider, he claims, symbolizes the “conquest of the gospel of Christ and its spread throughout the world.” Those who receive it are blessed. But not everyone does. Therefore, a second rider goes out: “the rider on the second horse symbolizes the consequences of the rejection of the gospel. The second horse follows the first; it means that whenever the gospel is preached and it has been accepted, persecution follows. As in the Old Testament when the enemies of God’s people turned their swords against each other, so today resistance to the gospel divides people and causes them to persecute one another and ‘hate one another’ (Matt. 24:10)” (230).

The third horse is usually associated with famine, but Stefanovic sees this as famine of a particular kind: “the opening of the third seal portrays a spiritual famine. Grain would symbolize God’s word (cf. Matt. 13:3-30; Luke 8:11). The word of God is the bread of life (Matt. 4:4), or it might also symbolize Jesus himself (John 6:35-58; 1 Cor. 10:16). So, whatever this spiritual famine might mean, the scene of the opening of the third seal has to do with a shortage of God’s word and the gospel. This famine is not fatal, however. The voice also orders that the oil and the wine are not to be harmed. The wine symbolizes God’s gracious salvation in Jesus Christ; oil stands for the Holy Spirit. It suggests that even though there might be a shortage of God’s word in the world, and that the gospel message is hidden from the people, the Holy Spirit is still at work making salvation available” (233).

The fourth horse represents the final consequence of rejecting the gospel, death and confinement to hades: “Death and Hades appear as the ultimate consequence of the rejection of the gospel. Death is a natural consequence of the famine which is portrayed in the scene of the opening of the third seal” (234). As he points out, death and hades don’t survive the book of Revelation. They are ultimately cast into the lake of fire. 

Stefanovic generalizes and spiritualizes too much, but the basic scheme is sound. The four horsemen are summoned by heaven to carry out heaven’s business. If they create some mayhem, it is mayhem for the purpose of ultimate order and redemption.