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The Horsemen of the ApocalypseThe Watchtower—1962 | March 1
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“Do not harm the olive oil and the wine,” God’s Word itself gives a clue, for at Proverbs 21:17 we are told that “he that is loving wine and oil will not gain riches.” Wine and oil are symbols of luxuries and their not being harmed would indicate that, in spite of famine conditions that affected the common people, the rich still had their luxuries, and so it proved to be.
The fourth horseman that John saw, sitting upon a pale or pallid-looking horse, is a fitting symbol of pestilence, and so we again find the prophecy of Revelation paralleling Jesus’ great prophecy: “And there will be . . . in one place after another pestilences.” (Luke 21:11) This fourth horseman and his mount did indeed picture pestilences or plagues and other far-reaching means of destruction of life, particularly in the postwar period. “And authority was given them [Death and Hades] over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.”
What about the “wild beasts” mentioned in this Re 6 verse (8)? In the days of Israel wild beasts represented another threat to life. In modern times, however, such is the case mainly in places left desolate. The wild beasts in modern times would therefore refer to beastly ways in which life was taken by governments or organizations due to the conditions brought about by World War I. As for the expression “the fourth part of the earth,” this may well be a symbolic way of saying that the effects would reach the four corners of the earth, but not necessarily cover the entire earth.
The fifth horseman is shown to be Hades, fittingly the last rider. The three that immediately preceded him represented the various means by which death was caused—war, famine and pestilence and wild beasts. This last rider, Hades, aptly represents the destiny of all those victims of the previous three riders, namely, Hades or gravedom.
Jesus Christ himself gave both the great prophecy concerning his second presence as recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke in their Gospels and the one concerning the horsemen as recorded by John at Revelation, chapter six. And even as in the Gospel accounts Jesus associates his return with war, famine and pestilence, so in the Revelation prophecy, Christ’s presence, as indicated by the first horseman going forth, is associated with the following horsemen, picturing war, famine and pestilence, to fill the common grave of mankind. As we note how beautifully these prophecies harmonize and have been fulfilled our faith is strengthened, and more than ever we say, “Let God be found true”!—Rom. 3:4.
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Age of FearThe Watchtower—1962 | March 1
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Age of Fear
“This is a different world. People today are frightened by the memory of concentration camps, by the possibility of atomic war, by the breakdown of old empires and old ways of living and believing. Each person shares the hopes and terrors peculiar to this age, not an age of reason or of enlightenment, but an age of fear and trembling.”—The Atlantic, July, 1961.
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