The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!

BREAKING NEWS!!!!! We are living in the “End times!” 

Have I got your attention now? Good, because the end times may not mean exactly what you think they mean. With all due respect to pastor John Hagee the book of Revelation is really a description of life in real time. Yes I said in real time because I don’t read the book of Revelation from a futurist perspective.

I read Revelation as a letter that describes life in the present and in whom our ultimate hope resides. This is the way I believe the recipients of this letter would have read it. In other words, Revelation is an ancient document of encouragement, hope and salvation to be applied to the full range of human history. Creating detailed futuristic scenarios is speculative and detaches itself from the realities of life today.

For example, in Revelation 6:1-8 we read what is commonly referred to as “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” Many Bible scholars understand each of these four horsemen to symbolize present day realities: The white horse represents conquest; the red horse represents war; the black horse represents famine; and, the pale horse represents death.

A futuristic reading sees these horsemen arriving near the very end of world history during the time of the so-called “Tribulation” period. Pushing Conquest, War, Famine, and Death to the very end of history does little to help us deal with present realities that continue to repeat themselves over and over again.

In fact I believe the message of Revelation centers around Jesus’s critique of the world’s repeated cycle of conquest, war, famine, and death by showing the world that there is an alternative way to live and order our lives, a way that offers hope and salvation for the world. In other words, the book of Revelation is not just a blueprint for the end of human history but rather a treatise on hope and salvation in the face of evil that exists in real time. The letter was intended to offer encouragement and hope to its original audience and to every subsequent generation of Jesus followers.

Yes the Four Horsemen ride today creating fear and suffering in the hearts and lives of those living on this orbiting spaceship called earth. Much of today’s politics exploits this fear and suffering and offers lame solutions that do nothing but keep its finger on the repeat button. War does not end war. Conquest is not progress. Famine originates in human greed and poor management of the earth’s resources; and death cannot be escaped in this life.

Over and over again these four horsemen ride through every epoch of human history creating their destructive work: Conquest, War, Famine, and Death! Make no mistake about it: The heavy finger of the world’s political systems is planted firmly on the repeat button of the four horsemen.

There hasn’t been one period in human history, not one mind you, in which the Four Horsemen have not ridden. So in this sense we are indeed living in the last days.

Today’s global political systems continue to feed the horses upon which the riders of conquest, war, famine, and death ride! These human systems provide the necessary fuel for the four horsemen to continue ravaging the earth and the people who live on it. So what’s my point?

Read the Book of Revelation through the eyes of real time faith rather than with an eye on the end of history! Trust in the Messiah who has come and has already ushered in the end times called the “Kingdom of God!” As Christians we are citizens of Christ’s Kingdom and live according to an alternative vision for how life is to be ordered and lived. Our hope is in the One who offers life both now and in the Age to Come—Abundant life brimming with the goodness of God’s grace.

Our hope is not in a political system and its promises, which can do very little itself to dismount the four riders, let alone stop the repeated destructive cycle. Our hope is in the politics of Christ’s Kingdom, a politics that is grounded in and shaped by love, light, life, and the Spirit; life that is ordered by the reality of God’s grace that provides hope for the world.

Nor is our hope in a futurist (speculative) theology that ignores the riding horsemen of today while looking for them to appear near the end of human history. This is a popular reading but not one that is very helpful. It’s been tried before and always fails—every time. Futurists are always embarrassed by their failed predictions, they just don’t know they are embarrassed, or don’t care to know. Futurism is a cottage industry that reaps millions of dollars a year; just ask Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

The Book of Revelation is grounded in the real world, in real time, and encourages its readers to keep their feet firmly planted in this life by trusting in God’s promise of the Age to Come. There will be a great renewal of heaven and earth and this is the culminating message of Revelation; but in the meantime we live in the here and now and must live in ways that minimize the dreaded effects of the four horsemen.