“When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’” (Revelation 6:5-6).
This pronouncement by God reveals how devastating this future famine will be. A quart of wheat is barely enough to sustain one person for one day, while a denarius represents one day’s wages for an average worker. A day’s wages will barely provide enough food for the worker, and will not be enough to feed their families. A person will be able to purchase three quarts of barley for a denarius, and that will help provide for families, but barley is low in nutritional value. A person’s wages will barely feed three people with low quality food. Both of those scenarios represent starvation wages, and point out the severe famine conditions.
God also cautions the people not to damage or waste the oil and wine. Olive oil and wine is used in the preparation and cooking of food, as well as the purification of water, and will need to be carefully protected because of its value.
There are several examples in the Old Testament where God has used famine as a means of judgement. God told Jeremiah, “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine” (Jeremiah 11:22). Isaiah wrote, “See now, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water” (Isaiah 3:1).
We live in a world that is fast becoming over-crowded, with over 6 billion people living on this earth to feed and clothe. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that it would be very easy with a couple of bad years of crop production to cause a worldwide famine.
In fact, if we were to have a couple of bad years of wheat production, you would find that a loaf of bread could very easily triple in price. In 1996, wheat rose to over seven dollars a bushel, and that was only because of a wheat failure in a portion of the wheat production area in the United States. Just think what the price of wheat would be if the entire world lost one year of wheat production.
The U.S. Bureau of the Census, International Data Base, estimates that the population of the world in 2050 will be over 9 billion people. That is a fifty-percent increase of people on the earth compared to what the world population is today. It is not hard to see how such a massive amount of humanity will have trouble feeding themselves.
Human history is filled with the facts that war, disease and famine go hand in hand. More Union and Confederate soldiers died from disease during the Civil War than were killed in battle. Over thirty million people died during the great influenza epidemic of 1918-19.
Jesus said, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (Matthew 24:7). And all you have to do to see that what Jesus said is the truth is to watch the World News on any night of the week. We see people starving in Africa, wars being fought in Afghanistan and Israel, and rumors of war are always in the news.
“I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8).
We have seen how God reveals through the apostle John how people are going to suffer from wars and famine. He also reveals to us that wild beasts of the earth are going to be a part of this devastation. But do not think on the terms of huge wild beasts such as lions, tigers or bears; think about rats, mosquitoes and other disease carriers that are small but dangerous.
The fourteenth-century outbreak of bubonic plague, a rat-borne disease called the Black Death, killed between one-fourth and one-third of Europe’s population. In a world that has been ravaged by war, famine, and disease, the rat population may very well run rampant.
The first four seals of Revelation chapter six reveals to us some of the most frightening things that have ever come upon this earth. Nothing in history even comes close to these catastrophic events that are in the future of this world. And yet, these first four seals are only a prelude to what is coming. This is just the beginning of the worldwide wars, hunger and plagues that are in the future for this sinful and rebellious world. Still to come are the remainder of the seal judgements, the trumpet judgements, and the bowl judgements.
You say, “Carlin I do not believe in God, and I sure do not believe that all this will happen to this earth.” And I can accept that, I am not trying to force you to believe what the Bible says about God and the future. But it is my job as a pastor and preacher to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is then up to the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of men and women to believe.
God wants everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth and believe. He does not want anyone to perish, but He has also given each person a free will to choose where he or she will spend eternity. The choice is yours.