1. Ezekiel’s Revelation
The Book of Daniel describes the abomination of desolation, and the beast of ten horns in Revelation 11, 12, and 13. The rest of the Revelation story comes from the Book of Ezekiel.
In Ezekiel 16, we meet the harlot that committed fornication with the kings of the earth. Her judgment is described in Revelation 17.
Ezekiel 37, 43, and 47, describe the revival of New Jerusalem, and the spirit of God that comes from the East and enters the sea, the Dead Sea. John described this in Revelation 7 and 8 as an Angel that ascended from the East, and a Great Mountain burning with fire that enters the sea.
In Ezekiel 38, and 39, we find the Great Supper of Revelation 19, the defeat of the beast and his armies, and the battle of Armageddon in Revelation 9, and 16.
In Ezekiel 48, we find the twelve tribes of Israel, which are the 144,000 in Revelation 7, and 14.
The Book of Ezekiel begins with a vision of the four living creatures we meet in Revelation 4.
Ezekiel 2 and 3 are the background for Revelation 5 and 10.
Here, Ezekiel hears the voice of One speaking, as did John in Revelation 10, and he is handed a scroll that is written on both sides, like the scroll that is handed to John in Revelation 5
I will send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence
Ezekiel 14:21
Ezekiel was told to eat the scroll. It was sweet in his mouth, like the scroll that was eaten by John in Revelation 10.
The eating of this scroll introduces the judgment on Jerusalem, New Jerusalem.
In Ezekiel 5, God says, “I will send against you famine and wild beasts … pestilence and blood shall be through you.”Ezek 5:17 And in Chapter 14, He says, “I will send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence.”Ezek 14:21 These four severe judgments are described as the four horses of the Apocalypse in Revelation 6.
2. The Four Living Creatures
Ezek 1:1-28, Rev 4:6-11, Rev 14:4
The first four seals in Revelation 6 were announced by four living creatures.
These four living creatures were first described by Ezekiel. He said, “Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, they went.”Ezek 1:20 The four living creatures are the saints. John said they “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.”Rev 14:4 Ezekiel described them as “full of eyes all around.”Ezek 1:18 They are full of truth. Zechariah called them the “four craftsmen” who terrified the four horns that scattered Judah, the four beasts of Daniel.Zech 1:20-21
The time periods of the Book of Revelation help us understand the meaning of the four living creatures.
The first living creature was a lion. Jesus is called the Lion of Judah in Revelation 5.Rev 5:5 He represents the apostolic saints.
The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.
Revelation 4:7
Daniel said the kingdom of heaven would be corrupted for “a time, times, and half a time,” the period of the ox, the second living creature. An ox in the Old Testament was an animal for sacrifices. It represents the saints, who were killed by the beast.
The third living creature was a man. He appears after “a time, times, and half a time.” King Nebuchadnezzar remained as a beast until seven times passed over him. Then he was given the heart of a man.Dan 4:32 Dan 7:4
The fourth living creature is an eagle. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says the eagles will be gathered when He returns.Matt 24:28 Isa 34:15 The eagles are the end-time saints who are filled with the Holy Spirit. They are described as flying in “midheaven” in Rev 8:13 and Rev 19:17. Isaiah said those who wait on the Lord “will soar on wings as eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”
3. The Four Horses
God said He would send four destroyers against Jerusalem:
“I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the LORD, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy.”
Jeremiah 15:3
The four horses in Revelation 6 are the four destroyers sent against the errant in the kingdom of God.
The first is a white horse, representing the Angel of God, who brings pestilence and wild beasts.
The second, a red horse, brings war. He was announced by the second living creature, the ox who was sacrificed for “a time, times, and half a time.” There was no war until the time of the second living creature. The “time, times, and half a time” of the second living creature ended in 1471.
Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Revelation 6:8
The third living creature, a man, announces a black horse and “scales that go out of balance”: the economic collapse of the financial system. In 1494, the Italian Medici Bank, which invented the modern accounting system of debits and credits, became the first big bank to “go out of balance.”
The fourth and final creature is a green horse, representing death and Hades. Some translate chloros as ashen, but it is translated into “green” elsewhere, including Rev 8:7 and Rev 9:4. We will see that there is a reason for the color green here.
These four horses were “given authority over a fourth of the Earth.” Europe was the fourth of the Earth that represented Christianity until the 16th century. Europe represented those north and west of Jerusalem, the initial ground of Christianity.
Europe’s greatest enemy was Islam. Its flags of white, red, black, and green were the colors of the four horses that terrorized Europe for 1,000 years. Daniel described the pope’s fight against Islam by saying, “He will act against the strongest of fortresses.”Dan 39:12 The fortresses of Islam were the strongest in the world, surrounded by double and sometimes triple walls and protected by ample moats.1
- crusader-castles.com ↩︎