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Revelation 6:5-6 The Black Horse

Study Aired November 18, 2009

Updated April 26, 2024

Rev 6:5  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.
Rev 6:6  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.

Introduction

Once we know the significance of the four beasts, we realize that they symbolize those who are “redeemed… to God… out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” The challenge is now to remember that it is only through these four beasts that we come to see what is the hidden truth behind these four seals. In other words, it is “by the church” that we are told “Come and see… the hidden things of the spirit.” It is of great significance that we are told ‘The first… second… third… and fourth beast say to us, “Come and see.” It confirms these words of our Lord:

Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you [the four beasts] receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Luk 10:16 He that heareth you [the four beasts who say “Come and see.”] heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

Christ is revealing Himself to mankind by loosing the first four seals of this book which is in “the right hand of the Him that sat on the throne.” Christ does not Himself say, “Come and see.” Instead, He sends the four beasts to say to us, “Come and see.” If we do not receive what we see behind these seals, then we are not receiving Christ. If we are given to hear what these beasts show us, then we are hearing Christ. We must try the spirits to see if they are of God. Then we will know whether we are receiving and hearing Christ.

1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4  For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5  For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Of course these words have a physical application for babes in Christ, but the “meat” from which those very babes command us to abstain are the experiences which we find we are to live and keep, and which are hidden from the whole world behind the seven seals and behind these first four seals.

We saw in an earlier study that the first beast showed us a white horse hidden behind the first seal. We saw that the removal of these seals by Christ reveals hidden truths which this white horse rider represents. He has come to conquer all the lies that have held us in bondage all our lives, so He has a bow with which to do battle with His spiritual arrows, which typify His teaching and His doctrine. It is His Word and His doctrines with which He carries on this war within us as He brings us out of Egypt:

Num 24:8  God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows.

How blessed we are that God has spoken these words of comfort to us!

The second horse was a red horse, and we saw that the coming of the red horse rider into our lives necessarily takes away the peace we once knew when we fit in with this world. The coming of the conqueror on the red horse causes us to be “hated of all men.” Taking peace from our world is the unavoidable consequence of Christ coming into our lives. Christ has warned us that if He does take up His residence within us than there will be no peace in the kingdom of our old man and our enemies will become “they of our own household.”

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.

This is the revelation of Jesus Christ in us which is the “hidden wisdom” behind the second seal and the red horse rider. This horse and its rider are also revealed to us by the second beast who says, “Come and see.”

The third horse is a black horse

Rev 6:5  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.

Christ is opening our heavens when He opens the third beast, and He has the third beast show us that the revelation of Jesus Christ entails a black horse rider who must come into our lives.

We are also told that this black horse rider has a pair of balances in his hand. Why is this part of the revelation of Jesus Christ a black horse, and why is the rider of this black horse carrying a pair of balances? What does the color black symbolize?

Here is the link to the study on how the color ‘black’ is used in scripture:

It is important we remember that this whole Revelation is seen only when John ‘looks behind himself’ to see this part of what Christ is doing in our lives.

Here is an example of how this color black is used in God’s Word:

Pro 7:6  For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
Pro 7:7  And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
Pro 7:8  Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
Pro 7:9  In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
Pro 7:10  And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.

This foolish young man is each of us in our own time. This ‘harlot’ signifies the same ‘harlot’ spoken of in Revelation 17-18. When we believe her lies we are “in the black and dark night” even if we think we are “rich and increased with goods and are in need of nothing” (Rev 3:17). Spiritual harlots never think of themselves as being evil or deceived and full of lies and ‘black… darkness’. Here is how spiritual harlots think of themselves:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

When we are deceived we do not believe we are deceived, and spiritual harlots do not believe they are committing spiritual adultery. However, they are deceived, and who is it ultimately who deceives all the false prophets of this world? It is the Rider on this black horse who has given all false prophets “idols of [their] hearts.”

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men [“elders of Israel”] have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 14:4  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

How does the Lord go about deceiving all false prophets? The scriptures do not hesitate to let us know how the Lord goes about deceiving all false prophets:

1Ki 22:19  And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
1Ki 22:20  And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
1Ki 22:21  And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
1Ki 22:22  And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1Ki 22:23  Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

That is how it is done. Just as in Job, chapters 1 and 2, the Lord Himself sends Satan as ‘His hand’ to afflict and to deceive and to trouble those He causes to oppose Him and His doctrines:

Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Job 2:7  So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15  And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

Satan can do nothing he is not sent by God to do. He does exactly what he is sent to do; nothing more and nothing less. All evil spirits are “from the Lord”, and are “[His] hand”, sent by God to “trouble” kings, deceive prophets, and all those who listen to those false prophets.

It is the Lord who sends us away to Babylon. We must go into Babylon the Great before we can “come out of her My people.”

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

This revelation of Jesus Christ reveals that we must all come out of Babylon, and this black horse reveals that it is a work of the Lord on this black horse which first sends us into Babylon and then, through the tribulations and fiery trials of the seven trumpets and the seven last plagues the Lord drags us out of “that great city where also our Lord was crucified” (Rev 11:8). It is the coming out of Babylon and the dying to the flesh that is entailed in the opening of these seven seals, the blowing of the seven trumpets and the pouring out of the seven last plagues upon the kingdom of our old man, “the beast” within us, which drags us out of the darkness of Babylon and into the light of “The Sun of Righteousness”. An essential part of that trying journey, is all the black darkness signified and symbolized by this black horse rider. It is “written therein”, and it will be “kept” by all who are blessed to see and to know and to hear with spiritual ears the words of this prophecy.

Jer 4:28  For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

Rev 11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The words of this black horse in our lives have been spoken, and Christ “will not repent, neither turn back from” the words of this revelation which we must keep, live and observe. It so happens that this revelation requires that we must come to see ourselves as those who have crucified our own Lord in the city of His own people.

Luk 13:33  Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Christ will never gather us under His wings until we first come to see ourselves as those who helped nail Him to His cross; until we see that we are that city wherein all prophets have been put to death and repent of what we have done to Him and His doctrines.

Jer 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 4:28 are words which have “proceeded out of the mouth of God”, and we live these words.

Jer 4:28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

Our “earth will mourn, and our heavens above will be black: because [the Lord] has spoken it.” This is the work of this black horse and his rider. This black horse works with the fourth horse, “a pale [green]horse”, which is producing the death of our old man, the beast within every man. This entire sealed book has been spoken by the Lord, and all these words have proceeded out of His mouth and therefore must be lived by those who are given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God in “this present time.”

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

It is very important to carefully notice that we are not told to ‘live every word’, rather we are told that we are to “live by [G1909: epi, upon, on, at, by, before] every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The point being, that we are to believe and live by every commandment of the Lord and do the things He says to do (Luk 6:46, Joh 5:2-3).

There are two more seals to be opened before we come to the seventh seal which is the seven trumpets. The seventh trumpet is the seven last plagues, which also “proceed out of the mouth of God.” We will see this “seven times” referred to later in the book of Leviticus in relation to a famine in the land, among other things (Lev 26:18, 21, 24, 28). It is all saying the same thing. It is all part of this revelation of Jesus Christ within us.

As we “look behind us” we see that all the seals, trumpets, and vials are all speaking to us, spiritual Jerusalem, we who have claimed the name of Christ, even as we rejected His doctrines. We have hated and killed our own Lord and have despised His doctrines. This black horse reveals that we have all been lacking eyes that see and ears that hear. It reveals that we ourselves have been “that great city wherein our Lord was crucified.” It is not ‘those people out there somewhere,’ but it is I, “the chief of sinners”, who is so deserving of being “chastised seven times for my sins.”

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

The only avenue to being the dead bodies of God’s two witnesses lying dead “in the street of that great city” is to first come to see ourselves as those who have “crucified our Lord” and as those witnesses He has sent. We will never do that as long as we see others as more blasphemous and more deserving of God’s wrath than we are. We will all first come to see ourselves as “chief of sinners.” This is the black horse and his rider in our lives.

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

What room is there for such a belief as a secret rapture to take us out of God’s wrath on the “chief… of sinners”?

Why are we “chief of sinners?” What brings us to such a sad state of affairs? It is our total ignorance of the heart and mind of our loving heavenly Father and the mind of His Son. It is the black darkness into which we have descended, even as we considered ourselves to be angels of light. It is a famine of the words of Truth.

What is the wheat and the barley?

Rev 6:6  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.

Here is this “pair of balances.” Here is the meaning of our “bread by weight” as revealed to us in the scriptures. Here is Revelation of the meaning of the words of Revelation 6:6 as revealed to us from “that which is written” (1Co 4:6) in the Old Testament:

Lev 26:26  And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.
Lev 26:27  And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;
Lev 26:28  Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

The ‘barley’ and the ‘wheat’ are the staples out of which the bread is made. The bread is the Word of God. That Word of God is, of course, Christ.

Joh 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The balance in the hand of the black horse rider, and the “voice in the middle of the four beasts” indicates that we look behind us to see that we have lived through a time in our own lives when Christ and His doctrines and Words were in very short supply. We were living “in the black and dark night” while believing the lying words of a harlot (Pro 7:9).

What is the oil and the wine?

The oil and the wine are also types of the anointing of the spirit of God, and the illumination which is that spirit:

Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Exo 25:6  Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,

Lev 24:2  Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.

Exo 29:40  And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.

Luk 5:36  And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.
Luk 5:37  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
Luk 5:38  But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

These commodities pertain only to these four beasts and four and twenty elders as those overcomers who have been redeemed from among men and found worthy to sit with Christ in His throne. Truth simply has no place in the lives of those whose very sustenance is their lies and smooth sounding false doctrines.

Num 4:16  And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.

As we saw in the last study, the “comfortable words” spoken to God’s elect are words which “take peace away from the earth.” Those are words of light to those who have the charge of keeping the lamps of God’s tabernacle burning. Such ‘light’ as that appears as deep darkness to those who are the purveyors of smooth things, purveyors of deceit.

Isa 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel [and His doctrines] to cease from before us.

All the blessings produced by our severe trials appear as curses to the natural man.

Zec 1:11  And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

Zec 1:13  And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.
Zec 1:14  So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
Zec 1:15  And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

We have an altar at which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, because those who serve the tabernacle are those who cannot handle “the oversight of the tabernacle and all that therein is.” Those who serve the tabernacle are those who are “carried about with different and strange doctrines.”

All these “fiery trials” which we must endure as we are coming out of Babylon are “those who serve the tabernacle”. Our experience in coming out of the churches of this world are a service to us by “those who serve the tabernacle, signified by the Levites who were commissioned to help the priests, but were not even allowed to look on the holy things of the temple.

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

We have all been carried about by different and strange doctrines. That is the black horse and His rider coming with a pair of balances and with all the symbols of the paucity of Truth. This horse, too, must ride through our lives if we are to know the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In our next study we will consider the spiritual significance of the pale horse and his Rider in revealing Christ in us:

Rev 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:8 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 over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.