Daniel and
Revelation by Uriah Smith
Revelation 6 -
Verse 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.
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.
The Third Seal.--
How rapidly the work
of corruption progresses! What a contrast in color between this symbol and the
first one: A black horse--the very opposite of white!
A period of great
darkness and moral corruption in the church must be denoted by this symbol. By
the events of the second seal the way was fully opened for that state of things
to be brought about which is here presented. The time that intervened between
the reign of Constantine and the establishment of the papacy in A.D. 538 may be
justly noted as the time when the darkest errors and the grossest superstitions
sprang up in the church. Of a period immediately succeeding the days of
Constantine, Mosheim says:'
"Those vain
fictions, which an attachment to the Platonic philosophy and to popular
opinions had engaged the greatest part of the Christian doctors to adopt before
the time of Constantine, were now confirmed, enlarged, and embellished in
various ways. From hence arose that extravagant veneration for departed saints,
and those absurd notions of a certain fire destined to purify separate souls,
that now prevailed, and of which the public marks were everywhere to be seen.
Hence also the celibacy of priests, the worship of images and relics, which in
process of time almost utterly destroyed the Christian religion, or at least
eclipsed its luster, and corrupted its very essence in the most deplorable
manner. An enormous train of different superstitions were gradually substituted
in the place
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of true religion and
genuine piety. This odious revolution was owing to a variety of causes. A
ridiculous precipitation in receiving new opinions, a preposterous desire of
imitating the pagan rites, and of blending them with Christian worship, and
that idle propensity which the generality of mankind have toward a gaudy and
ostentatious religion, all contributed to establish the reign of superstition
upon the ruins of Christianity."
Again he says:
"A whole volume would be requisite to contain an enumeration of the
various frauds which artful knaves practiced, with success, to delude the
ignorant, when true religion almost entirely superseded by horrid
superstition."
These quotations
from Mosheim contain a description of the period covered by the black horse of
the third seal that answers accurately to the prophecy. It is seen by this how
paganism was incorporated into Christianity, and how during this period the false
system which resulted in the establishment of the papacy, rapidly rounded out
its full outlines, and ripened into all its deplorable perfection of strength
and stature.
The Balances.--
"The balances
denoted that religion and civil power would be united in the person who would
administer the executive power in the government, and that he would claim the
judicial authority both in church and state. This was true among the Roman emperors
from the days of Constantine until the reign of Justinian, when he gave the
same judicial power to the bishop of Rome."
The Wheat and the
Barley.--
"The measures
of wheat and barley for a penny denote that the members of the church would be
eagerly engaged after worldly goods, and the love of money would be the
prevailing spirit of the times, for they would dispose of anything for
money."
The Oil and the
Wine.--
These "denote
the graces of the Spirit, faith and love, and there was great danger of hurting
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these, under the
influence of so much of a worldly spirit. And it is well attested by all
historians that the prosperity of the church in this age produced the
corruptions which finally terminated in the falling away, and setting up the
antichristian abominations."
It will be observed
that the voice limiting the amount of wheat for a penny, and saying, "Hurt
not the oil and the wine," is not spoken by anyone on earth, but comes
from the midst of the four living creatures, signifying that although the undershepherds,
the professed ministers of Christ, had no care for the flock, yet the Lord was
not unmindful of them in this period of darkness. A voice comes from heaven. He
takes care that the spirit of worldliness does not prevail to such a degree
that Christianity should be entirely lost, or that the oil and the wine--graces
of genuine piety--should perish from the earth.
*******
The progression
through history, through prophecy fulfilled continues…
A black horse. We all know that black and white are
opposites. White was the purity of the
church before it became corrupt, red the descent into corruption, black the
corruption so incredibly deep that its influence would be felt until the end of
time. This corruption is the blackest.
Rev. 6 Verse 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.
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.
The third beast
speaks and says to John-
Come and see.
John looked and saw
a black horse.
The one who sat upon
the black horse held a pair of balances.
And a voice in the
middle of the four beasts spoke saying-
A measure of wheat -
for a penny.
Three measures of
barley - for a penny.
See thou hurt not
the oil and the wine.
A time of want, a
time of very little justice, very little
fairness. A time filled with selfish gain. A time of deception as truly truth
was perverted by lies. Lies were introduced, melded with truth to give the appearance
of truth. Lies that became so entrenched in what people believe is Christianity
that unless people truly desire only the truth they will be allowed to believe
the lies.
A dark time, but not
dark enough to kill the Spirit and the Blood, the truth. They could wound the truth deeply, but not
destroy it. Throughout all time there have been those who have been allowed to
know the truth and keep it so that it could be passed down.
Do we want truth?
Only a few will.
Please, Father in
heaven, let us be among those who would know ONLY Your truth! We would NOT be deceived!
May we receive the
blessing of the Holy Spirit upon us.
All through the
mercy and love of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!
Amen.
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