"And I saw, and look! a pale horse..."
The title of this article is taken verbtim from the Bible book of Revelation (Apocalypse), chapter 6, verse 8a.
The pale horse is one of a group of 'four horses of the apocalypse'. These symbolic horsemen are described by an angel, and they describe ongoing events on the earth that have application to our day (from 1914 on). One is a white horse, representing unseen heavenly warfare that, for one thing, causes Satan and his demons to be cast to earth's vicinity. One is a fiery color horse. This horseman takes away peace from the earth. Another, a black horse, describes food shortage during the same time period.
But let's return to the pale horse, as right now, it is especially relevant. Including the context, we read:
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say: “Come!” And I saw, and look! a pale horse, and the one seated on it had the name Death. And the Grave was closely following him. And authority was given [it]... to kill... with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth."
Of course, the coronavirus comes to mind. And it promises to be bad, although it is not completely catching us off-guard, or without any communications ability to understand the extent of the virus, or to share plans of action. Granted, transportation and people's attitudes are a downside to an extent.
But the Spanish Influenza of 1918 was horrendous. There was a greater loss of life from it than from war! And it didn't avoid civilians, men, women, or children. Only two Islands of the world escaped its deadly grip.
Despite being the worst to date of the modern plagues, keep in mind, the horseman still rides...
The good news or 'evangel' is it will continue ONLY until the establishment of God's Kingdom over the earth.
If you want many more specifics to better understand what these horsemen are all about, please see the online (free) article:
The Four Horsemen - Who Are They?
Image Credit » https://pixabay.com/photos/horses-wild-horses-animals-wild-2904536/
Comments
MegL wrote on March 18, 2020, 4:13 PM
When you think of the numbers killed by the pandemics, the Spanish Flu, as you said, The Black Death and the other flu pandemics too!
1VinceSummers wrote on March 18, 2020, 7:04 PM
A major component of the Spanish Flu and the Coronavirus is their worldwide scope.
MegL wrote on March 19, 2020, 3:33 AM
Yes, we can travel so far so quickly these days. Yet back in the days of the Black Death it still spread, though it took longer. I wonder if that is what Governments want when they introduce social isolation, lockdowns, etc.
VinceSummers wrote on March 19, 2020, 6:14 AM
In a nutshell, this well illustrates that even the best-intended efforts of humans do not always take into account the downside of an "equation". Change this for the better and you get this for the worse. The funny thing is, rarely, change this for the worse, and sometimes you get this for the better. Think I'm crazy? Take a few milligrams, or even micrograms of a poison, and you recuperate from an illness...
But the reason I mentioned the worldwide matter, is the composite sign given by Jesus requires describes events experienced worldwide. Hence WW1, etc.