Comes the Pale Rider
Don’t be cavalier about the Four Horsemen.
I’ve gained a new appreciation for the prophecy of Revelation 6 after listening to the recent conversation between Jordan Peterson and journalist Michael Yon: “Cometh the Horsemen: Pandemic, Famine, War.”[1]
Three of Revelation’s four “horsemen” are listed there.
Yon’s thesis? “We are heading into one of the most epic famines in world history, where the poor will freeze in the dark and burn in the sun while they starve.”[2] Not surprisingly, Peterson emphasizes (24:32) the natural expectation that “the people who [will] suffer . . . the most are the people at the bottom of the economic hierarchy . . . especially in North Africa.”
Any sensible person will agree with that, but in a way—please understand that I’m not being cruel here, just making an observation—but since we’re accustomed to hearing about famine in Africa, hearing about more of the same doesn’t shock us. It doesn’t smack the Western viewer in the “feels” as harshly as Yon’s forecast that western Europe—an affluent corner of our own civilization—will also begin to experience famine. This includes the Netherlands, amazingly the world’s second-biggest exporter of agricultural products, after the United States.
In his conversation with Peterson, Yon observes what he calls “the triangle of death”: war, famine, and disease. “They always go together. . . . You get one, you get the other two.”
This dovetails with the structure of the Revelation 6 prophecy. In the lead-up section, the author, John the Apostle, is given a representational vision of God on His throne.[3] In His hand is a scroll bound with seven seals—the breaking of which reveals world events yet-future from John’s perspective.
The three “horsemen” to which the Peterson video alludes are under “seals” 2-4:
When [He] broke the second seal . . . another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere.
When [He] broke the third seal . . . I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay. And don’t waste the olive oil and wine.”
When [He] broke the fourth seal . . . I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals. [Revelation 6:3-8]
Broadly speaking, these “horsemen” and their steeds represent movements, themes, or patterns that dominate the world between the first and second comings of Jesus.
Yon and Peterson ignore the first “horseman,” whose steed is white—which prompts the reader to compare it with the description of Jesus’ second coming in Revelation 19:11-16, also involving a symbolic white horse. Based on that comparison, the first Horseman symbolizes either the spread of the Gospel—Jesus’ spiritual influence in the world—or Satan’s ongoing attempt to mute and subvert the Gospel. If the latter, then the white horse and its rider would symbolize false messiahs who continually try to draw people away from the true message of salvation.
While that dynamic is taking place, as it has been over the last 2,000 years, humanity at large is continually battered by war, famine, and pestilence. These three are concentrated under the mantle of the pale “horse” and its rider in 6:7-8.
When [He] broke the fourth seal . . . I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.
Though Revelation isn’t always clear as to how much historical ground is covered by its prophecies, a common view is that the Four Horsemen depict overlapping world conditions—a feedback loop—throughout Church history between Jesus’ first and second comings.
This would echo the Lord’s words to four of his disciples (including John) roughly 60 years before Revelation was written:
“. . . [M]any will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ [These would be symbolized by the First Horseman.] They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars [the Second Horseman], but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place first, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines and plagues [the Third and Fourth Horsemen] in many lands[.] But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.”[4]
I subscribe to the above interpretation, but I also believe the Fourth Horseman gives us an intensification of world conditions not long before the Second Coming. I consider it very plausible—perhaps even likely—that what Yon and Peterson are actually talking about is the Pale Rider.
And that the Pale Rider is, right this moment, galloping toward us at full tilt.
The Uniqueness of the Fourth “Horseman”
I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals. [Revelation 6:7-8]
Notice what the Pale Rider introduces to the field:
The geographical scope is limited to “one-fourth of the earth.” Whether or not “one-fourth” is meant literally, it’s interesting that for the first time, a Horseman has a limited geographical scope. The first three did not. Here war and famine are concentrated. In my view this is an important distinction.
Horsemen 2 and 3 didn’t bring disease; that’s new here,[5] though of course it naturally accompanies war and famine.
The Fourth Horseman adds another, more unexpected menace: “wild animals.”
Is it possible to identify a specific region and the “wild animals”? I believe so.
If the prophecy’s only purpose was to describe broad global conditions between Jesus’ first and second comings, then the Fourth Horseman would be partly redundant: we’ve already been told about war and famine, so why mention them again in verse 8? It seems to me that this must refer to a specific war-famine combination, probably near the end of history as we know it.
The addition of “wild animals” sounds bizarre to the modern reader. We can’t imagine any significant chunk of humanity, in modern times, being threatened by the animal kingdom. But here’s a question for you: What if the “animals” in this prophecy are actually human beings?
It’s possible that the phrase “wild animals” is meant to remind the reader of a similar punishment God had said He would mete out on ancient Israel if they repeatedly violated the Law of Moses.[6] But in Revelation’s own context there’s another possibility: the Greek term behind “wild animals” (or “beasts”) is thērion, also used many times elsewhere in Revelation to refer to the Antichrist and his False Prophet.[7]
Therefore the Pale Rider could be predicting the End-time regime of the Antichrist brutalizing the people living within the borders of his initial domain, perhaps early in his reign.
A slightly different option would be a supranational regime or federation that commits the same atrocities, but not yet under the control of one man. It can be argued that the “Beast” in Revelation includes not merely the Antichrist himself, but all anti-God government down through history. Perhaps, then, the Pale Rider symbolizes the launch of the political infrastructure the Antichrist will eventually rule.
The Domain of the Beast
What, then, will be his initial power-base; his initial sphere of influence?
For this we must turn to the Old Testament; specifically the book of Daniel, whose prophecies nearly 700 years earlier set the table for Revelation:
. . . Daniel had a dream with visions in his mind as he was lying in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and here is the summary of his account. Daniel said, “In my vision at night I was watching, and suddenly the four winds of heaven stirred up the great sea. Four huge beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. . . .
“[The fourth beast] was different from all the beasts before it, and it had 10 horns. While I was considering the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. There were eyes in this horn like a man’s, and it had a mouth that spoke arrogantly. [Daniel 7:1-3, 7-8]
Naturally Daniel doesn’t have a clue what’s going on—kind of like you and me when we first read this or other prophecies in the Bible. So, God provides at least a partial explanation:
“These huge beasts, four in number, are four kings who will rise from the earth. . . . The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms. It will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it. The 10 horns are 10 kings who will rise from this kingdom. Another, different from the previous ones, will rise after them and subdue three kings. He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones[8] of the Most High. [Verses 17, 23-25]
The traditional understanding of this prophecy—and I see no reason to abandon it—is that the four predicted kingdoms are Babylon, Medo-Persia,[9] Greece, and Rome.
In Old Testament lingo, “horn” is often a symbol of strength, especially military or political power. Thus the “little horn” of the prophecy is a future ruler who, politically speaking, will start out as a pipsqueak, having little power or influence. And since he is in power when the End of the Age comes (verses 11, 21-22, 26-27), we know that this man will be the Antichrist, the End-time world ruler who will severely persecute God’s people, only to be destroyed by none other than the returning Christ Himself.
For the purposes of this article, though, the crucial point is what sets the stage for this ruler: “10 kings who will rise from this [Roman] kingdom” (verse 24), and of whom three in particular will be subdued by the eventual Antichrist. The Roman empire was territorially one of history’s largest, and among its territories was what is today western Europe, including parts of Germany and the British Isles.
After the empire dissolved, the French, the Spanish, the Portugese and the British colonized the entire Western hemisphere. Therefore, the “10 kings” prophesied in Daniel 7 could be any heads-of-state (whether literal monarchs or elected leaders) in western Europe or all of the Americas. Both genetically and culturally, the whole of Western civilization is largely descended from citizens of the Roman empire.
Of course, it’s possible—perhaps even more likely—that the prophecy’s fulfillment will correspond to the historical geography of the Roman empire when it was still a coherent power. In this scenario, the “10 kings,” three of whom are the first to come under the control of the Beast, could emerge specifically from Western Europe and/or nations around the Mediterranean rim.
In that context, one strong candidate for a revived “Roman empire” at the present time is the European Union: the Antichrist might be revealed when, from some nation currently in the EU, he conquers three neighboring states.
The Three Who Fall…?
Which brings me back to the viewpoint of Michael Yon. One of the reasons he forecasts famine in Europe is the irrational “green energy” policies that have just caused Sri Lanka to implode. Yon tells Jordan Peterson:
Governments always start taking food from the farmers. . . . [L]ike in Egypt recently: forcing the Egyptian farmers to sell to only approved warehouses; that sort of thing.
So people start robbing from the farmers, as well . . . . And then the farmers say, “Hey, I’m . . . either bankrupt or I’m not making any money”—and so the farmers stop farming. So . . . the famine creates more famine, just like fire creates fire. And then . . . let’s say you have 20 million people that are hungry in Sri Lanka, and as their nutritional . . . resources diminish, so too does their physical resilience, and now they’re open to disease . . . .
I mean, we’re really heading into the most epic famines that have ever happened in human history.
Yon then shifts to the European context:
. . . Germans are collecting wood right now . . . as much as they can get. They realize this [could] be a very cold winter . . . . If [there’s] anything that can destroy the European Union, that’ll be it: if Germany collapses, it’s over. . . .
After Germany, Yon zeroes in on the dispute between farmers and politicians in the Netherlands:
. . . [T]he conditions that are being set now—whether it be the inputs of fertilizer, fungicides, pesticides—all the other chemicals that go into agriculture: the energy, diesel, LNG—just so many factors that are really going the wrong direction. . . .
Meanwhile, Mark Ruta, the [Dutch] prime minister, is the teacher’s pet of Klaus Schwab. I mean, he’s even more favored than [Justin] Trudeau, . . . which is pretty hard to do. . . .
. . . [T]he bureaucrats in Brussels[10] . . . are ruling by decree . . . . And of course it has nothing to do with nitrogen—[in the Netherlands] they’re talking about nitrogen—it has nothing to do with nitrogen; it has nothing to do with ammonium. It has to do with numerous things. One is taking the land, just as happened with Stalin in Ukraine . . . .
Here in [the] Netherlands there’s an information campaign to make the farmers look like bad guys . . . . [T]hey were acting up. I was, like, Dutch farmers are actually protesting? . . . [T]he World Economic Forum is trying to control food supply . . . . That is, production and distribution . . . . [O]ne of the ways to do this is, as . . . Stalin did in Ukraine . . . to take the farms away from the traditional farmers and then put your new farmers on that land. . . .
If the Dutch farmers . . . are the most efficient in the world . . . why would you knock them out of the saddle to get somebody else to produce the food? . . . This is clearly about control.[11]
And here’s the prophetic kicker:
. . . [S]omething that you never hear in . . . any press . . . is the Tristate City. Tristate City is this smart city that they’re proposing to build between . . . Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany.[12] So this mega-city, basically, would take up all this farmland in that area, and . . . would bring . . . [many] more people into this area . . . . So the Tristate City is something you don’t hear much about, but that’s another part of this plan.
Are you connecting the dots? The European Union—or the World Economic Forum, a pseudo-political organization based in the EU—planning a tightly controlled mega-city that will incorporate the Netherlands, Belgium, and part of Germany: this will require the appropriation of a huge swath of land. Possibly the rationale behind Tristate and other such cities around the globe would be to concentrate citizens—after millions or billions have been starved to death—in demarcated and controlled zones so as to limit human “interference” with nature and thereby “save the planet.”
Are Belgium, the Netherlands, and Gemany the three Roman offshoots that will be taken over by the Antichrist early in his reign of terror? Could the present climate-change agenda be the very mechanism that brings down these states? Or, will pushback by outraged and alarmed citizens—as exemplified by protesting Dutch farmers—precipitate a violent governmental response led by the man who will be revealed as the Antichrist?
To summarize this possible fulfillment of the “Pale Rider” prophecy:
Revelation 6:7-8 may depict a concentration of war, famine, and plague within a limited geographical area.
That region may be the territory from which the Antichrist arises.
European famine and Tristate City may signal the beginnings of the Antichrist’s regime.
(Notice my repeated use of the word “may”!)
Naturally the good folks at the official Tristate City website deny anything nefarious: “This model has no relationship whatsoever with the nitrogen policy of the Dutch government!”
Sure.
The Satanic Constant
I can theorize—but will it materialize? Or will it fall flat?
Maybe. I’m not being dogmatic here; so if my thoughts on the Pale Rider turn out to be wrong, you won’t have grounds to say “I told you so”!
The funny thing is, I could be right and wrong at the same time. The reason this isn’t contradictory is hinted at by something else Michael Yon told Jordan Peterson: “the desire to have a one-world order is clearly strong. And this isn’t the first time it’s happened; as you know, it’s a constant in human behavior.”[13]
This is very insightful, but only a partial truth. The deeper truth is what’s behind this “constant in human behavior.” More precisely, who: Satan himself.
Here’s something we don’t usually consider when we wade into End-times prophecy: the Devil is always trying to bring about world government in order to have all of humanity worshiping him through the Antichrist.
And the dragon [Satan] gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority. . . . [People] worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power [Revelation 13:2, 4].
This has always been Satan’s endgame. The closest he’s come was roughly 5,000 years ago, at the Tower of Babel. Ironically, Jordan Peterson has written: “This must not become the generation of yet another top-down Tower of Babel. That will not solve our problems, just as similar attempts have failed to solve our problems in the past.”[14]
Satan’s not interested in solving our problems, of course; he’s interested in consolidating our problems: trapping us in our sin forever, binding us to his own doom.
What this means for the study of End-times prophecy is that we’re always seeing “signs of the End.” A great example of this in recent history was when many people believed Adolf Hitler to be the Antichrist. Here’s a thought: What if Hitler would have been the Antichrist, and only failed because God intervened?
In the same way, what if what we’re seeing in Europe (and elsewhere) currently is, in fact, Satan’s latest attempt to set the stage for the Antichrist?
And, relatedly, what if—as I’m entirely convinced at this point—covid policies were practice for the Antichrist? After all, they certainly weren’t about public health. If you take a deep-dive into the issue, you might just become convinced, as I have, that the covid “pandemic“ (note the quotation marks) was, in reality, about two things: government power and cultic environmentalism—just like Dutch, Canadian, and Sri Lankan government policies adversely affecting farmers are supposedly meant to “fight climate change.”
Going further, climate-change alarmism turns out to be just another manifestation of nature-worship. Old-fashioned paganism repackaged and writ large.
If Satan’s current attempt to usher in the End-time fails, it won’t necessarily mean that I (or others) have misinterpreted Scripture—but simply that God intervened to prevent the Devil from fulfilling those prophecies at this time.
Yet, since he’s always attempting it—we must always be expecting it.
And always praying.
Always seeking the Lord.
Because “when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”[15]
[1] Extended quotations from the interview have been edited for the sake of clarity, but I include time-stamped links so that you can hear the discussion yourself.
[2] From the video description. Relatedly, see Yon’s “Germany Powering Down,” “Europe is Crashing Fast into Freezing Winter Followed by Famine,” and “Haber-Bosch Process—and the Coming Famines.”
Also: from The Epoch Times, “The Coming Food Crisis Is Manmade; the Globalists’ Agenda Against Farmers and Fertilizers” and “UN, World Economic Forum Behind Global ‘War on Farmers’: Experts.”
[3] It is “representational” because God isn’t a physical being requiring a physical chair. The vision symbolically expresses His sovereignty over both creation in general and the events of Revelation in particular.
[4] A synthesis of Mark 13:6-8 and Luke 21:9-11.
[5] The Greek word behind “disease” is actually thanatŏs, which normally means “death”—as in the Pale Rider’s very name. But a secondary meaning is disease or plague: the idea is that death is mysteriously stalking the land in a form that is invisible. This would apply to any type of plague, since its cause cannot be seen by the human eye (as opposed to war and deprivation).
[6] Ezekiel 14:21 is especially noteworthy because the four judgments listed exactly match the four in Revelation 6:8.
[7] The occurrence of “beasts” in 18:2 is disputed; it depends on which set of manuscripts is considered the most reliable.
[8] That is, the saints; the people of God.
[9] An amalgamation of the previously separate Media and Persia; jointly also known as the Achaemenid Empire. We see this amalgamation within Daniel’s own lifetime (5:28; 6:8, 12, 15). Another prophecy in Daniel’s book (yet thematically related to chapter 7) depicts Medo-Persia being defeated by the Greeks (8:1-7, 20-21).
[10] That is, the leaders of the European Union.
[11] Emphasis mine.
[12] Emphasis mine.
[13] Emphasis mine.
[14] Jordan Peterson, “Peddlers of environmental doom have shown their true totalitarian colours,” The Telegraph (15 Aug. 2022; accessed Aug. 23); emphasis mine.
[15] Luke 21:28.