"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
The first seal is the introduction of the antichrist. One interesting characteristic here is that he has a bow in his hand, but no arrow, indicating that he will conquer with diplomacy rather than by war. He will usher in a "false peace" promising to solve all the world's problems. That he will be ultimately victorious is seen by the fact that he has a crown on his head. However, although world leaders promise peace to the masses, the human race does not have the capacity to fulfill that promise, no matter who they are, or what nation they represent. The antichrist is no exception.
The second seal is a red horse, and red represents blood and war. It's obvious from this "horseman" that there will erupt a bloody world war, and some nations will try to escape the dominance of the antichrist. However, it will be unsuccessful, and it is evident that from the opening of the next seals, it will be a widespread and bloody war.
The black horse is a symbol of famine. Black is used in other Scripture to depict famine, and famine often follows war. The balances in the riders hand indicate the scarcity and the price of food. In fact, a penny is the biblical reference to the equivalent of a person's wages for one day. Three measures are about a pint. That would be about the minimum daily sustenance diet for one person. So, here it shows that each person will have to work a whole day just to earn enough money to eat on. But it seems as though there will still be rich people because of the reference to the oil and wine, which are traditionally foods of the rich.
The pale horse signifies death. The death rate will be tremendously high due to war, famine, and inflation. It tells us that one-fourth of the entire world's population will die. Since Hades follows closely on the heels of this horseman, it would seem as though most of the dead will be unsaved, and probably due to the fact of taking the mark of the beast. Anyone who receives that mark will not stand before the Father, but instead, be condemned to eternal life in the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his angels.
In the next section, we will examine the rest of the seals, that only the Lamb of God was found worthy to open.
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