LCN Article
Fear Not the Third Horseman

November / December 2008
Commentary

Wyatt Ciesielka

Have you been affected by escalating food prices? Are you worried about how you will pay your bills and feed your family if a gallon of milk costs $10 or a loaf of bread costs $8?

Rising fuel prices have coupled with rapidly rising food costs to cause real pain for the average consumer, even in wealthy nations, and food shortages are literally starving people to death in underdeveloped nations! World governments and agricultural experts agree that a food crisis is upon us, and famine is stalking the earth in an unprecedented manner.

Is the nation that was once "breadbasket to the world" now seeing its very ability to feed itself erode? Are food shortages and food riots in the United States and other "wealthy nations" looming? Food scarcity is a very real problem that will become much more severe in the years ahead, and is a harbinger of the severe famine that will affect every nation when the third seal of Revelation is opened and the Third Horseman rides!

Note this description: "When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 'Come and see.' So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.'" (Revelation 6:5–6). A denarius was worth about one day's wages during Christ's time. Converted to 2008 dollars, a denarius would be worth approximately $100 to $150! So we see Scripture warning us that, before the Great Tribulation, food prices will increase significantly.

The Third Horseman's ride will soon tear apart the very fabric of our society. Do you fear for your family's safety, or do you trust in God? If we truly repent and seek God, He promises us eternal life (1 John 5:10–12) and He promises to provide for us in the midst of global famine—even during the ride of the Third Horseman of the Apocalypse! As the Psalm assures us, "the Eternal's eye rests on His worshippers, who rest their hopes upon His kindness, that He may rescue them from death, and during famine-days keep them alive" (Psalm 33:18–19, Moffatt).

God promises to provide for us if we obey Him and seek His Kingdom (Matthew 6:31–33). So we need not fear the rising food prices. Do not fear the Third Horseman! Instead, humbly submit to and obey God. His kind eye will then indeed rest on you and your family—now, and in the days to come. God loves every one of us, but we must seek Him.


The above is adapted from one of the many commentaries, discussing vital topics facing our world, available at the www.lcg.org and www.tomorrowsworld.org Web sites.