It's all in the report

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

Television and cinema have made much of the four horsemen of the apocalypse of Revelation 6.1-8.  Writers for these visual panoramas see it as a sensational, unfolding of end-of-time series of events.  However, it's possible that John had an entirely different idea in mind when he penned the words from his island refuge of Patmos after a harrowing, death-defying experience with Roman authorities.

John had been rounded up as a Christian leader by the Romans in his latter years.  He had been put in a vat of boiling oil.  But, it didn't kill him.  The Romans, being a superstitious people, decided that the gods had deemed him worthy to live, so they honored that by not trying further to kill him.  Instead they banished him to the island of Patmos off the coast of present day Turkey.  While there John recorded a series of visions and experiences that became the book of Revelation.

John began the book by writing to the churches of Turkey surrounding Ephesus where he had lived during those late years of his life before his capture.  He wanted to leave them some words of encouragement and some words of warning.  He wrote to each church (Revelation 2, 3) at the beginning of the book to serve as set-up for the seals to follow with the purpose of encouraging his fellow brothers and sisters during their dire circumstances.  Having been nearly killed for his own faith, John was in a unique position to encourage those under the gun.

As a Jew, John had been instilled with the teachings of the Old Testament during his childhood and teenage years, his synagogue years.  He knew the laws and the prophets's oracles by heart.  So, to encourage his fellow Christians in Asia Minor, he relied on this knowledge to let them know that God was watching the terrible events unfolding on Earth and would soon act.  He recalled the 6th chapter of Zechariah where angels were summoned and then were sent from Heaven to view the actions of the peoples of the Earth and report back to God what they saw.

John began (Rev. 5) , as Zechariah did (Zech. 5), by setting up this angelic report with a scene from heaven with a scroll to read.  But in Revelation the living beings around the throne of God broke into worship for Jesus because he was the only one worthy enough in Heaven and Earth to break the wax used to seal the scroll from unintended eyes.

Then Jesus began to break the seals one at a time.  As he broke the first four seals, an announcement was made by one of the four living beings for a colored horse to come into view with a rider on it.  Each rider either had something with him or had something given to him or both as below.

White horse: ο καθημενοϛ επ αυτον εχων τοξον (the one sitting on it had a bow), and

εδοθη αυτω στεφανοϛ (a victory garland was given to him).

Red horse: το καθημενω επ αυτον (the one sitting on it), and

εδοθη αυτω λαβειν την ειρηνην εκ τηϛ γης (taking peace from the Earth was given to him).

Black horse: ο καθημενοϛ επ αυτον εχων ζυγον εν τη χειρι αυτου (the one sitting on it had a measuring cup in his hand).

Pale yellow: ο καθημενοϛ επανω αυτου ονομα αυτω ο θανατοϛ (the one sitting on top of it was named Death), and ο αδηϛ ηκολουθει μετ αυτου (the world of the dead followed him), and

εδοθη αυτοιϛ εξουσια επι το τεταρτον τηϛ γηϛ αποκτειναι εν ρομφαια και εν λιμω και εν θανατω και υπο των θηριων τηϛ γηϛ (power over a fourth of the Earth to end life by sword, famine, death, and wild animals was given to them). 

Zechariah 6 used exactly the same colors of horses and the same number of spirits (living beings) that John used in Revelation.  So, it would be logical to think that the mission of the horses would have been the same, that is, to patrol the Earth.  John needed very much to give Christians hope in their violent, dangerous world.  Some were dying for their faith.  Others were fearful.  Still others were fighting discrimination from the rich or from Jewish communities.  How could he give his "little children," as he called his fellow believers in his letters, the strength to carry on?

Each seal revealed what the horse patrols were reporting as the business of the world - people warring against each other (white horse), people living under the rule of oppressive authorities (red horse), people eeking out a living, enough to eat and stay alive (black horse), and people burying their loved ones due to various causes like hunger, violence, and natural death (pale yellow horse).

Letting them know that the Lamb and the powers of Heaven were reading the angels's sealed reports had to have lifted these Christians's spirits.  The one on the throne and the Lamb were absolutely seeing all the evil that was happening.

A tasty morsel lies in the middle of the passage.  The passage is mainly about what the riders of the horses had or had given to them.  But, in verse 6, associated with the actions of the black horse, a voice rose from the middle of the four living creatures with a message cryptically worded.

Χοινιξ σιτου δηναριου και τρειϛ χοινικεϛ κριθων δηναριου και το ελαιον και τον οινον μη αδικησηϛ (a day's measure of wheat and barley for a day's pay and don't allow the olive oil and wine to ruin).

The meaning of the saying was not given.  But, the four living beings had been doing nothing but singing praise to God in the previous two chapters.  Although the voice was not one of the living beings's voices, it rose from the middle of the beings that were constantly giving God praise and honor. So, the voice rising from their midst had to be most encouraging.  All was not lost.  The fears of the people were heard and the voice among the living beings was proof that God directly heard of his people's simple subsistence.  He would act as surely as he did in the days of Zechariah. Then, he reassembled his people from among the nations after 70 years to rebuild the temple.  During John's time, John was promising God would act in some similar earth-shattering fashion to bring together all the saints as he shows in chapter 7 of Revelation.

 The words Χοινιξ and χοινικεϛ in the message above are great words to use to depict the idea the daily grind. The words are different grammatical forms of the same word and mean the daily measure of grain for bread or cornmeal.  The idea here matches perfectly Jesus's model-prayer request, "Give us today our daily bread." And it matches the modern-day plea of Alcoholics Anonymous to its members, "Live one day at a time."  It's the perfect portrayal that God knows his people were living a day-to-day existence.  Bur, there;s comfort in the portrayal too.  Today, God will take care of me, and sometime soon he will act on the terror against his children.

I  receive this message in the same way that John's original readers received it.  During my life, all of the events reported by the horse riders have been true.  People have warred against each other, and war has touched my family.  I have faced scrutiny by the government and credit companies and background checks and fingerprinting.  I have lived out my simple existence and buried people I loved deeply who died from cancer, dementia, and other diseases.  Life has not been a bed of roses.

Am I looking forward to something magnanimous from God?  You betcha.  I take comfort in knowing that God is watching.  He hears his angels's reports.  He will act.  My days of eating my daily measure of wheat and barley are numbered.  I will get my white robe!  Let the heavens open!!

[For a fuller treatment of the entirety of the scene of the seven seals including the thoughts above about the four horsemen, read Discerning the Seven Sealed Scenes by David Singleton.]