Chapter Eighteen – A Fourth of Men!
Back to 1The Bible’s Greatest Prophecies Unlocked!
Many are intrigued by the “idea” of prophecy, but not the truth of prophecy. These are unable to translate mere knowledge on paper of what is to come to the awesome reality of what these prophecies actually mean for planet Earth—that they will strike all nations with absolute sledgehammer force!
To many, prophecy is a puzzle to work out—a game to play—one in which they can “figure out” what happens next. It is exciting! But prophecy is neither a game nor mere futuristic puzzle for the intellectually curious. Far—FAR—from it! It is a deadly serious matter, and in all of its component parts. All recreational prophecy readers will soon wish they had looked elsewhere for “stimulation,” and brought much more serious interest to God’s Word.
No Exceptions
Many years ago, a popular television commercial illustrated how most people were not inclined then to wear a seatbelt when riding in a car. Of course, laws have changed and this is now generally required everywhere in the United States, as well as in many other countries. The message sought to convince travelers of the danger of “not buckling up.”
The commercial worked off a familiar cliché—“accidents only happen to others.” It went something like this: “Of course, we all know that accidents only happen to others, but, just in case you are one of the ‘others,’ please wear your seatbelt.” The commercial took a left-handed approach to get people’s attention. I never heard statistics demonstrating whether it worked before laws changed, but it was catchy and it certainly came from a correct premise in the thinking of the majority of human beings.
Most people do live their lives believing that bad things generally only happen to others—other people get cancer—other people’s houses burn down or are struck by tornadoes—other people’s children die of drug overdoses—and so forth. The truth is that for everyone who is forced to suffer one of these tragic events there is someone who probably believed such awful things could only happen to someone else.
But all mankind is on a collision course with cataclysmic events so stunning—so staggering—they defy imagination. Horrific prophecies will soon affect every human being on Earth—every human being—no exceptions! They do not describe a mere few hit by “accidents” of “time and chance.”
While the vast majority remain ignorant of the precise sequence of key prophetic fulfillments, even fewer understand the correct timing and true impact of these events—with both of these of paramount importance in assembling the final prophetic picture.
The reader—any reader—every reader—is unprepared for what this chapter will cover. Millions may think they understand the magnitude of what will happen when certain Bible prophecies occur, but all popular assumptions will soon pale against the awful crush of reality in just the first great wave of punishment foretold by God.
Sadly, most are blissfully unaware of impending calamity.
By now the reader understands that the four horsemen’s impact will increase, and in a big and growing way. But God has actually given a precise measurement of just how many they will affect.
“The Fourth Part” of Men
Recall two earlier verses in Revelation 6:1-17 describing the opening of the fourth seal—pestilence. Together they become one of the Bible’s most powerful single passages—or what might be called summary statements—on the entire subject of prophecy.
Read again, this time very carefully: “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 them”—all four horses and riders (false Christianity, war, famine and disease) in the context—“over the fourth part of the earth[one in every four people!], to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (Rev 6:7-8).
Grasp the sheer awesome magnitude of what you have read. One out of every four people on Earth is foretold to perish—and all or almost all of this will happen before the Tribulation, which is the fifth seal! All four horsemen, riding together, with certain paralleling factors accompanying them, will have the power to kill one full quarter of all human beings on Earth!
Walk outside and look across and down the street. Then picture one of every four people you see gone and dying faster than graveyards can even begin to receive them! This is not mere speculation—it is certain.
This worldwide calamity starts with religious deception, which results in war, followed by famine and disease. Factor in both intensifying—“great”—earthquakes (and volcanoes) and an overlooked reference to “with the beasts of the earth,” and the result is mass death—one in four people alive today, plus many not yet alive.
So says God!
A Graphic Picture Unfolds
We are about to learn—and in the most raw detail—the awesome scope of how and in what way these nearly incomprehensible nightmarish prophecies will soon strike all nations of the world. The Bible is plain on this subject—with scriptures that are impossible to misunderstand.
The way to fully comprehend and personalize the horror brought by the four horsemen, the beasts of the earth, and different kinds of natural disasters is not to examine the entire world as a whole, but to first look at what will happen to modern Israel at the end of this first wave of punishment—after the “beginning of sorrows”—just into the period of the Great Tribulation.
Why examine the future of only the modern descendants of ancient Israel?
Just before the opening of the fifth seal of the Great Tribulation—at the conclusion of the time of the first four seals (the four horsemen)—God also describes the chilling next phase of events—the punishment of the nations of Israel—in explicit terms—in most graphic detail. By studying what happens to these peoples, and what is a second wave of death that will ensue, we can comprehend what will later befall the entire world! Israel’s death toll is but a fraction of “the fourth” to perish the world over. (In fact, Israel’s suffering is actually on top of the “one fourth,” but similar in kind.) Through them God paints a representative picture of all nations of the world in bone-splintering language!
A later chapter will give the reader much more background about who are the people of Israel today, and why their identity, including America and Britain, with certain other nations, opens up giant areas of prophetic understanding now completely lost to almost all. The reader will better appreciate that chapter in light of what is now discussed.
Horror Like None Other
Most people do not recognize the power of language used by the God of the Bible when He wants to drive points home. He pulls absolutely no punches. He often uses especially descriptive language so that those who read are left without excuse regarding what they have just learned. Such is the prophecy in Ezekiel 5:1-17.
Related to this point about language is that God also wants people to have no excuse when pondering the specific details of what will occur when world conditions will have collapsed as they are foretold to do. Since we cannot read every passage, my task is to make clear to you, in the most graphic language I can summon, what God says will happen.
One can only try to imagine the worldwide chaos of the coming conditions brought by the four horsemen, worsening earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as what God is referring to when He mentions the “beasts of the earth.” Understand again that when people are hungry, they grow desperate—and desperate people do desperate things. Of course, it is important to meditate on every message given to us from God in His Word. But some passages require a kind of special thoughtfulness and repetition (which God brings) to appreciate them.
We first repeat a verse from Ezekiel 5:1-17 that hearkens to a subject already covered. It is in the fuller context of what God is going to do to His people: “Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds” (Eze 5:10).
How bad will world conditions get? Make yourself come to terms with the fact that food will become so scarce in nations accustomed to unbounded abundance that parents will resort to cannibalism! Again, so says God! While hard to comprehend, understand that this will happen—just as it happened when ancient Israel was under siege thousands of years ago (Lam. 4:10). Solomon said there is “no new thing under the sun” (Ec. 1:9). This is another way in which the past is prologue.
The rest of Ezekiel 5:11 indicates that God’s wrath is so great, He will show no pity: “...neither shall My eye spare, neither will I have any pity.” What could be more frightening!