eschatology, Third Seal: Famine (Rev.6:5-6)

Jesus breaks the third seal, which releases the black horse.  This will be worldwide famine.  We're not told how this will come about.  There can be many causes for food shortages, besides drought or pestilences.  I remember a pastor from Ethiopia explaining that because the religious leaders in their area deemed that it was wrong to eat fish - entire villages experienced famine - even though right beside them there was a river loaded with fish!  And because of the corruption in the government, any food sent to them from other nations - never made it to them - but was sold on the black market.

Whatever the cause, in the Tribulation, food will become very expensive.

A denarius (back when this was written) typically bought 10 quarts of wheat, which would have fed a soldier for ten days.  So with this in mind, the denarius will only buy one quart of wheat which will have to be rationed over ten days (probably shared by several people).  Same with the barley.  A denarius back then bought 30 quarts, but in the Tribulation, it will only buy 3 quarts. 

Just imagine taking what you typically eat in one day - and having to stretch that out for over ten days...

(Revelation 6:5-6)  When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

Today's takeaway:  I feel "starved" in between meals, so I can't imagine!  I'm just always so thankful for how God provides.

Recently, I heard a sermon on how God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness.  Now granted, because of the their disobedience, they were made to wander around in circles for forty years.  But God put them in a position where they had no choice but to rely on Him.  They had no choice but to see how marvelous and generous He is.

Keep in mind:  a wilderness is devoid of all resources, especially for over two million people!!!  But over all those years,God provided a pillar of cloud for shade in the day and a pillar of fire for warmth at night, their clothes never wore out, and God provided health, safety, water, meat and daily (heavenly) bread... 

Most important is how God provides salvation, even though we don't deserve it.  Jesus is the Bread of Life, who came form heaven!  It is the only thing that will feed and satisfy our starving souls!  And it is free!...

(John 6:35)  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 

(John 6:45-51)  It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

(Deuteronomy 8:1-18)  “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. 2 You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

11 “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12 otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 15 He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint. 16 In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. 17 Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ 18 But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day..."