The 4th SEAL - WHOLESALE DEATH

The 4th Seal and the Judgment of Wholesale Death

"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."

The Origin of the Opening of the Seal. "...I heard the voice of the fourth beast say..." (Same as above.)

 

The Outset From the Opening of the Seal

The Appearance of the Pale Horse

The adjective "pale" means green, like as a corpse. Same word in 8:7 "green grass."
Our society today is a "green" society. Attempting to preserve the earth.

The Rider on the Green Horse

This one is clearly names "Death." "Hell," original, Hades, with gaping mouth swallows up the souls of those who die. By metonymy, the effect is placed for the cause which is plagues and pestilence (1 Kings 8:37; Jer. 14:12; 21:7) like the "Black Death," the Bubonic plague.
"If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;"
"When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence."
"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."

The Outcome of the Opening of the Seal

In the song that is now sung, echoing and reechoing through the corridors of heaven, is the fulfillment of God's purpose in Grace (Eph. 1:5-6, 12, 14). They praise Him because in His grace He has redeemed them from utter loss and has exalted them to the highest of all posi­tions. Rev. 1:6; 20:6 would support this position.
Population is reduced by one fourth.

The Factors Operating to Bring Death
cf. Ezek. 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?"

Sword       - Red horse
Famine      - Black horse
Pestilence  - flu, typhus, etc.
Wild beasts - grown ferocious because of so many dead bodies.