The events of Revelation begin with a pandemic

That is to say, the sequence of public events on earth begins with a pandemic.
The first three chapters set the terms of the problem, as it were.
They present the situation which the church is facing in the world, where there is tribulation in the form of persecution.

The next two chapters show us God, in his power, and express his determination to put things right.
The “slain Lamb” has earned the right to open the scroll of history, and that’s the act which sets in motion the rest of Revelation.

As each seal is broken, the events of the sixth chapter are released into the world.
Each of the four “living creatures” standing around God’s throne summons out one of the “four horsemen of the apocalypse”.
The traditional understanding of these four horsemen was that they represented “Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death”.
We’re concerned, for the moment, with the identification of the first horseman as “Pestilence”, or “Plague”.

The clue is in the fact that the first horseman carries a bow.
In the religion of ancient Greece, this was the weapon of the plague-and-healing god Apollo, “the god who strikes from afar”.
There’s an episode at the beginning of Homer’s Iliad, in which his flying arrows are wreaking havoc in the Greek camp;
“The arrows rattled on the shoulders of the angry god as he moved, and his coming was like the night. Then he sat down apart from the ships and let fly an arrow; terrible was the twang of the silver bow…then on the men themselves he let fly his stinging arrows and struck; and ever did the pyres of the dead burn thick. For nine days the missiles of the god ranged through the army…”- Iliad, Book One, ll45-53
This is the description of a plague.

The same image is to be found in the Psalms;
“You will not fear the terror of the night,
Nor the arrow that flies by day,
Nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Nor the destruction that wastes at noonday”- Psalm 91 vv5-6
Bearing in mind how Hebrew poetry likes to say the same thing in different ways, we can understand this as the same picture that Homer is using.

It’s an association of ideas which the ancient world would have recognised, and that’s why it appears in this vision.

The “conquering” of the first horseman can hardly be human conquest, for then there would be no difference between the first horseman and the second horseman, who “takes peace from the earth”.
But “conquest” is a very appropriate way of describing the devastating effect of a widely-spreading pestilence- what we in the modern world would call a pandemic.

The picture in this chapter is that the four horsemen are coming in quick succession.
The three causes of death- Plague, War, and Famine- fan out across the world, while “Death” itself follows on close behind them to pick up the corpses

It’s easy to imagine how there might be a “feedback” effect.
As these disasters are developing and merging into one another, they might be helping to aggravate one another.
The social effects of a really serious pandemic would be “taking peace from the earth”.
In the early stages, particularly weakened countries might be attacked by opportunistic neighbours.
But a more general social breakdown, if things got that far, would itself be a loss of “peace”.
All modern cities, and some entire countries, depend upon the food they bring in from elsewhere.
So a general social breakdown, by disrupting the growing of food and the transportation of food, would aggravate any shortages.
Any shortage of food would aggravate the loss of peace, by giving people something to fight over, at national and at street level.
A general social breakdown, in the middle of a time of death, could also result in dead bodies remaining unburied, and then we’re back at pestilence again.

In the sixth chapter of Revelation, Death is given power over “a quarter of the earth”.

But the sixth chapter is by no means the last chapter in the story.
This time of devastation comes to a end.
The forces of destruction are “put on hold” (ch7 v1).
The world is able to take a breather.

THEN, and only then, does the power of “the Beast” arise, and the story of Revelation comes to a climax in the later chapters.

My interpretation of the sequence is that the appearance of the Beast is the natural product of the world’s experience of the “Four Horsemen”.
The Beast would be able to rise to power on the strength of leading and organising the world into recovering from the catastrophe.
If the first Beast of ch13 is a political state, then the apparent “mortal wound” could be the way it collapses, or even disintegrates, along with the rest of the world, under the impact of the “Four Horsemen” events.
The “healing” of the mortal wound would then be an unexpected and vigorous recovery, arousing both the astonishment and the enthusiasm of the world at large, as the recovery of this body pulls along the rest of the world and brings the social order back to life.

All this, if my theory is right, following on from the arrival of a pandemic.

I should add that I don’t categorically claim any current epidemic as the “first horseman”.
In fact the “first horseman” should not have arrived yet; the events of Revelation are depicted in the first few chapters as God’s response to the tribulation of the church, which triggers them off.
I’m not convinced that the tribulations of the church at large have reached that kind of level.

Nevertheless, it’s as well to be aware of the possibilities.
Taken separately, Plague and War and Famine are all obvious threats and frequently discussed on these forums.
This chapter simply combines them together, and also (by implication) relates the resulting time of catastrophe to the later growth of “world government”, which is another ATS area of interest.
And if the prophecies of Revelation are going to be fulfilled at all, this sixth chapter is the first portion of the book that we should expect to see reflected in current events.

So there we have it.
The public events of Revelation begin with a pandemic.
We are currently in the early stages of a pandemic.
Even if it is not the same one, it is precisely the kind of event that anyone who takes the book seriously needs to be looking out for.

Something ought to be said about the background of this thread. The original document carries a date-stamp of October 2014. It has been sitting in my Drafts folder ever since then, with the intention that it should be published on ATS on the next official announcement of a pandemic (so that’s how long it’s been since the last one).

My interpretation of Revelation ch6 can be traced back to this thread, posted on the 24th of April 2010. 4 Horsemen
In other words, nobody can say this this interpretation has been worked up to match current circumstances. This is what I have been saying about Revelation for the last ten years.

a reply to: DISRAELI

The gist I got from reading the bible was that it was basically a guide to regional living, well the old testament, a guide to recognize the signs of trouble coming. Which yes, include war, famine, and pandemics.

The whole story of taking the first born just reeks of a virus spreading around town killing young children. A lot of that sort of stuff happened back then, and it was quite devastating. Biblical events probably did happen, and lessons were learned.
If I were to take anything from the bible, it would be to just relate the stories in there and put them into today's world, nothing has really changed. We haven't evolved that much since then. I take it with a grain or salt tho, a big one.

a reply to: strongfp
Different parts of the Bible have different functions. The laws have one function, the histories have another, and so on. Only by reading them can we form an opinion on the function of any one part. There are prophetic writers, but the bulk of prophecy is about encouraging the people of their own time. There are some portions of prophecy which are intentionally pointing us towards future events, and the book of Revelation is one of them. Though, of course, you have to read it to see what its purpose is. Back in 2010, I did a whole thread series on Revelation, and perhaps I ought to bump the Index thread again.

I'm not sure this is going to rise to the level of apocalyptic, but it does, of course, have certain quarters I keep my eyes on very nervous.

I'm not convinced this is going to trend worse than Spanish Flu yet, and that didn't end up being one of the four. However, knock-on effects could push us to that level without the disease itself being what you would call apocalyptic too.

Another thought on the white horse:

It's been obvious that the world has been trending toward a New World Order one world government type thing for a while on its own. Might the White Rider simply be one who disrupts that progress and therefore disrupts the world even if that person does it peacefully (without military force)? Such a disruption would also cause knock-on effects like war, rumors of war, if you believe in bioweapons pandemic, and famine.

This is not biblical. This isn’t even in the neighborhood of biblical. Do some of the math with the numbers they are giving.

I am saying right now. The death toll will be less than the flu and the books will be cooked to get to what they report.

a reply to: ketsuko
Quite so. I did cautiously limit my conclusion to "this is the kind of thing". A couple of weeks ago (or maybe not that long) I did notice a suggestion on ATS that a weakened Iran might be vulnerable to a bit of retaliation from the U.S. That kind of thing, too.

a reply to: iwanttobelieve70
I was careful not to claim that THIS was the Biblical event. Let me point out, though, that the Revelation ch6 deaths don't just come from the plague. The associated wars and famines make their contribution.

S&F , this is very timely read for me, thanks for your insight & breakdown.

There is no doubt around the Pestilence. The more I've seen Trump goad the Chinese with his 'China Flu' remarks in recent days, I do feel there is a strong possibility of something around the corner. Not specifically his goading, but the economic situation and the unrest.

RFID chips have been here for a number of years now. I work in the IT industry, specifically delivering solutions for Corporate organisations, and a real trend over the past year - 18 months has been machine learning & AI. It really is up to a level to replace human workers in many roles across many sectors, and large organisations have begun to notice and capitalise on this. I just thought more organisations would begin to adopt, to realise the ROI & remove the human workforce prior to Revelation events occurnig.

Thanks for sharing.

a reply to: HallowedEarth
Thank you. I've done a separate thread on the "mark", and I should point out that I don't agree with the RFID theory. Half the point of the mark is that some people choose to accept it and some people don't, which rules out anything compulsory. The other half is that it has to indicate a fairly explicit rejection of the Biblical God- otherwise God would not be angry about it.
My solution to identifying the mark is to identify a world-dominating, Christian-persecuting ruler first, and then notice what he uses to identify his followers.

a reply to: DISRAELI
In your opinion are the seals and bowels concerente or consecutive?

a reply to: JON666
I treat the sequences of seals, trumpets, and bowls as consecutive.
To be exact- the seven trumpets are what happens when the seventh seal is opened.
The seven bowls are what happens when the seventh trumpet is blown.
The trumpets and bowls are similar because the trumpets are introducing the beginning of the catastrophic process, and the bowls are describing the climax of the same process. So that, for example, the condition of the sea after the relevant bowl is much worse than the condition of the sea after the relevant trumpet.

If you want to check this Index thread, they're all in there somewhere.

a reply to: DISRAELI
In your opinion are the seals opened rapidly or can there be months or years in between each one?

a reply to: JON666
The first four seals are the four horsemen. I understand them as coming almost simultaneously, different aspects of one disaster. Plague, War, and Famine causing death, while Death rides along behind them to pick up the corpses. That's all in the thread linked on the second page of this thread.
The fifth and sixth seals are mainly about the reaction of the martyrs (5) and the living people of the earth (6) to these events.
Then there is a pause (ch7 v1), of unknown length. At the very least, the first half of the rule of the Beast- we know the Beast rules for "one hour" (whatever that means), and this pause is or includes the "half an hour" mentioned in ch8 v1
The seventh seal brings in the seven trumpets, which are the next stage of catastrophe.

great read, old man....it is Biblical going by my timeline....war March 22.....not too long to wait to see if I'm all whacky

a reply to: GBP/JPY
I think all timetables are whacky. It isn't happening to a timetable.
If nothing happens on your chosen day this time, will you accept that as the principle?

yessirr...April at the latest and Aliens by July 26....9th of Av am I wrong about that date...idk

there is a great deception running around loose out there

edit to add....Armageddon maybe Atonement 2024 ar 1260 days then the 1335 days added to that hit Hannakka exactly

a reply to: DISRAELI

a reply to: DISRAELI

Considering that most people recover from the virus with mild or little symptoms, then God is not doing a very good job regarding the virus.

What has got us in this mess is the panic caused by the media mostly that made people think this was the plague or something, hence the reason we see things like the panic buying we are seeing around the world and a financial collapse.

Don't get me wrong, we need to contain the virus because it can be deadly for elderly and people with health problems, but most people recover within two weeks.

The fear mongering has to stop!

a reply to: Jay-morris
As I've already mentioned, I was careful not to claim that THIS was the Biblical event. Only that the Biblical event is describing something which would start in this kind of way.

yes, and my view is to look at what is next....not this virus on top of economic misery for no real reson

hey....we need a one world religion...I vote popey....and a one leader...in the un....Obama

and the money....get rid of it....too germy....does that sound familiar....how ya gonna buy

btw Dec 9 ....Hannakka eve.....dedication this year of the Temple....December 9 2020 yup
a reply to: Jay-morris