With the opening of the fourth seal, the fourth living being commanded the fourth rider: “Go!” (Revelation 6:7; cf. 4:7). What John saw was a pale or greenish horse, whose rider was called Death. It is the only rider that is named among the four, and Hades followed him. Obviously, both Death and Hades are personified in the vision. In chapter one we are told that Jesus had the keys to Death and Hades (Revelation 1:18), so did Jesus actually send out Death and Hades upon the land, or does the opening of the fourth seal point to something else?
The writer of Hebrews tells us that the Devil had power (kratos – G2904) over death (Hebrews 2:14). Two questions immediately come to mind here. First of all, is Paul claiming the Devil has power over physical death or spiritual death? Secondly, is Paul referring to a maleficent evil spirit, or is he speaking of a man with great power (cp. John 6:70)?[1]
The Greek word, kratos (G2904), is used to express the great and mighty deeds of God (Luke 1:51), the might or intensity of his strength (Ephesians 1:19) and his eternal rule or sovereignty over all (1Timothy 6:16; 1Peter 4:11; 5:11). Understanding how this word is used of the Lord, we are able to understand what the kratos (G2904) of the devil refers to, as it pertains to death. Whoever the devil is, man or spirit, he has dominion. That is, he is a powerful figure of authority. So, if Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil, what did Jesus destroy, because it seems obvious that Jesus had taken that authority away from the devil by the time we come to John’s vision on the isle of Patmos (Revelation 1:18). Indeed, Paul tells us in 2Timothy 1:10 that Jesus had already abolished death during his appearance in the flesh! If Paul claimed death had already been abolished (katargeo – G2673), but physical death still occurred, then Paul must have been referring to spiritual death.
In Ephesians 2:1-6 we are told that man was once dead in his sins, but God had raised him to life through Jesus. In other words, until Christ was crucified and raised from the dead, man had no spiritual understanding. His spirit had been darkened and was unable to see or understand spiritual things (1Corinthians 2:14). It is only since the coming of Christ that anyone has any spiritual understanding whatsoever (1Corinthians 2:12). Therefore, it is spiritual death that Christ had destroyed, but that is only so for those who repent. Those who didn’t repent in the first century AD were still under the power of the devil (cf. Hebrews 2:14), whether he was a spirit or a man.
Nevertheless, Christ had to have abolished death through his own resurrection, rendering spiritual death inoperative for those in him (Colossians 2:12-15). So, from the time of his resurrection from the dead, Christ possessed the keys of Death and Hades (Revelation 1:18), even though those who rejected Christ were still held in bondage (strong delusion).
If it was accurate to say the rider of the third horse brought famine (cf. Revelation 6:5-6), then the rider of the fourth horse must have brought pestilence, according to Jesus’ testimony in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:7), but what does this mean? The same Greek word is used of Paul by his accusers, saying he was a pestilent (G3061) fellow, a mover of insurrection among the Jews (Acts 24:5). It is often used in the Septuagint, which translates the word into mischievous. The word is used to describe Nabal, who refused to feed David’s men. Nabal’s wife described him as a “son of pestilence” in the Greek. The Hebrew renders it the son of Belial, which means a wicked, worthless fellow.
The point in sending out Death and Hades has to do with judgment, and that judgment had to do with bringing wicked men and strong delusion upon the nation of the Jews. It seems to me that when the text claims power or authority was given to them (Revelation 6:8), it refers to all four horsemen. Authority or “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.” Notice what the prophet said, while speaking of Jerusalem:
Ezekiel 14:20-21 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. (21) For thus says 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? (emphasis mine)
All four riders in Revelation 6 are represented in the four judgments upon Jerusalem in Ezekiel 14. The sword is represented in the second rider (Revelation 6:4) and famine is represented in the third (Revelation 6:5). The noisome or wild beast (cf. Mark 1:13; used of lying men in Titus 1:12) is represented in the first (Revelation 6:1), while the fourth, pestilence, is represented in the fourth or Death and Hades. These four are seen as judgments of God against Jerusalem in Ezekiel 14:20-21 and seem to be the same as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, if Matthew 24:4-7 is an accurate interpretation.
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[1] Jesus called Judas a devil, not a demon—a devil, meaning a slanderer, a man who covers the truth with a lie.
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