09 February 2020
Two-Minute Features | 16 February 2020 | 02 February 2020

Seal #4- Death Kills a Fourth of the World (TMF:1305)

Friday, February 14, 2020
Peace to Live By: Seal #4- Death Kills a Fourth of the World (TMF:1305) - Daniel Litton
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       A fourth angel here tells John to “Come.” The Lord Jesus Christ in opening the fourth seal shows us a rider with a pale horse. Based off the rest of the passage here, the pale color of the horse represents the paleness of a human corpse. The riders name of Death represents what is to come. We also see that Hades, or Hell, follows him, which must have been a pretty disturbing vision to John. Nevertheless, God the Father gives Death authority to kill a fourth of the world’s population. That’s a tremendous amount of people. Therefore, this judgment from God is on a massive scale. And this is accomplished through war, famine, pestilence (disease and disasters within nature in epidemic proportions), and wild animals. Now, one may view the war and famine here as from the second and third Seals, or this may be additional war and famine. But, pestilence rises within the war and famine. We know that small animals can bring on pestilence, like with the bubonic plague.

Seal #3- Famine Strikes the World, Part 2 (TMF:1304)

Thursday, February 13, 2020
Peace to Live By: Seal #3- Famine Strikes the World, Part 2 (TMF:1304) - Daniel Litton
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       We can recall that a denarius was a day’s wages back during the time of the New Testament, as Jesus has told us. A quart of wheat then isn’t very much food, and would be little for a person to live on in a single day. The three quarts of barely then might be what is given to a family. But God tells the hearers not to “harm the oil and wine!” because those things will likely be more scarce. Both these items are obviously used for cooking and wine used to used to make water drinkable. The fourth Seal Judgment: “When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:7, 8, ESV). A fourth angel here tells John to “Come.” The Lord Jesus Christ in opening the fourth seal shows us a rider with a pale horse. Based off the rest of the passage here, the pale color of the horse represents the paleness of a human corpse.

Seal #3- Famine Strikes the World, Part 1 (TMF:1303)

Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Peace to Live By: Seal #3- Famine Strikes the World, Part 1 (TMF:1303) - Daniel Litton
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       The Apostle John is summoned again for the third time by an angel. Note this time that the horse is black, which as the rest of the passage indicates represents famine in the world. John seems to indicate this rider was a distinguished sight, as he said, “Behold” when he saw him. Now, it is likely that the world in war has lead to famine in the world, which makes sense. The pair of scales in the rider’s hand denotes that the food will be apportioned out to people. Thusly, food will be hard to come by and limited. The voice that John hears “in the midst of the four living creatures” probably is God the Father, since that is where we are told that God’s throne is earlier in the Book. He provides an example of the rationing of the food. We can recall that a denarius was a day’s wages back during the time of the New Testament, as Jesus has told us. A quart of wheat then isn’t very much food, and would be little for a person to live on in a single day. The three quarts of barely then might be what is given to a family.

Seal #2- The Temple of God is Desecrated (TMF:1302)

Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Peace to Live By: Seal #2- The Temple of God is Desecrated (TMF:1302) - Daniel Litton
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       At this point, there still is peace in Israel, for Jesus said that they will hear of wars and rumors or wars, but not actually be in them yet. This won’t happen until the Antichrist exalts himself as God which causes the Israelites to come under persecution. Remember, he is going to go into the newly rebuilt Temple of God in Jerusalem, desecrate it, and declare himself to in fact be God. Thereby he goes against the Jewish people, and against Judaism. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 24:15, and it will take place either between Seals 4 and 5, or at the end of the Seals, depending on what you believe. The third Seal Judgment: “When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” (Revelation 6:5, 6, ESV).

Seal #2- Peace Goes Down the Tubes, Part 2 (TMF:1301)

Monday, February 10, 2020
Peace to Live By: Seal #2- Peace Goes Down the Tubes, Part 2 (TMF:1301) - Daniel Litton
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       So, the Apostle John is summoned again by the angel, and this time he sees world peace go down the tubes. Likely, the red horse represents blood, which denotes the slayings that take place in a world now under war. Let us recall what the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24, and this is significant here. He told the Israelites: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains” (Matthew 24:6-8, ESV). Since the human race will still be under sin’s power, the Antichrist’s peace will be short-lived. Perhaps other leaders and people rise up to challenge his authority. And this may be what causes wars to break out, and people talking about the possibility of starting wars.