Revelation  ◦   Chapter 6

1Excitedly, I watched as Jesus the Lamb opened the first section of God's book of foreknowledge and began to reveal the warfare between God and Satan. I heard one of the living creatures say in a powerful voice that rumbled like thunder, "Come and see!"2So I looked, and I saw that the war began with a rider on a white horse, holding a bow and wearing a crown — symbolizing Lucifer beginning his war in heaven under the guise of righteousness, yet intent on inciting rebellion and war, and achieving conquest.

3When Jesus the Lamb opened the second section of God's book of foreknowledge, I heard another living creature say, "Come and see!"4Then I saw a rider on a fiery red horse, holding a large sword symbolic of Satan’s lies about God severing the bonds of love and trust and inciting fear and selfishness, and resulting in people killing each other.

5When Jesus the Lamb opened the third section of God’s book of foreknowledge, I heard a third living creature say, "Come and see!" I looked and saw a black horse, symbolic of humanity necrotic with lies about God. Its rider was holding a yoke in his hand, symbolic of the spiritual enslavement that occurs when the mind is bound by lies about God.6Then I heard a voice coming from the four living creatures, saying, "A handful of wheat or three handfuls of barley will cost an entire day's pay, but the oil and wine won't be destroyed" — which means that the lies about God will be so pervasive that a famine of spiritual truth will occur, and humanity will be near spiritual starvation; but the oil of truth and the wine of God's Remedy will not be destroyed.

7When Jesus the Lamb opened the fourth section of God's book of foreknowledge, I heard the fourth living creature say, "Come and see!"8Then I saw a pale horse, and its rider was named Death — symbolic of a church fighting against the truth and promoting a false remedy — and the grave was filling up behind him. It had power over one-fourth of the world’s population and could destroy by warring against the truth with lies about God; by restricting access to the written word of God and thereby inciting spiritual famine; by indulging selfishness — the pestilence of the soul; and by introducing wild, beastly, pagan traditions.

9When Jesus the Lamb opened the fifth section of God's book of foreknowledge, I saw an altar, and beneath it I saw the individual identities of those who were killed because they embraced the truth about God's character of love and faithfully revealed his methods, rejecting the lies about God.10Their lives called out, "Almighty Lord who always does what is right, how long until your diagnosis of the inhabitants of earth is made known and you set right the wrong done to us?"11Then they were each given white clothes to symbolize that they were healed to be like Jesus in character. They were told to be patient a little longer, until the rest of their co-workers and friends completed their witness and were martyred for the truth.

12I watched as Jesus the Lamb opened the sixth section of God’s book of foreknowledge. There was a great shaking of ideas in the minds of people on earth: their unshakable confidence in religion was broken, as evolutionary theory–like a black cloth obscuring the sun–covered over their minds. The moon bled dry for believers,13and the stars fell from their high places of esteem, shaken by the mighty wind of changing ideas.14The mystery of the cosmos was rolled back like a scroll as science and astronomy advanced; every high place of worship was removed from its place of esteem, and every island of belief was thrown aside.15But the leaders on earth–presidents, kings, princes, generals, rich and poor–hid from the truth in the caves of their own lies and amongst the rocks of the mountain of false ideas.16They begged for their ideas to be true: they cried out, "Hide us from the truth! Hide us from him who sits on the throne of truth, and protect us from what happens when Jesus the Lamb lets us go.17For the day when he lets us go has come, and who can stand on their own?"