Yeshua the Messiah spoke these words at the last Passover feast prior to His death on the cross: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (JOHN 16:33)
Notice the word “tribulation”. Christians have always had tribulation! It’s nothing new. But the great tribulation at the end-times is far worse in the history of mankind.
Yeshua revealed the end-times in the Gospels of Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. The Seven Seals in the Book of Revelation correspond to the gospels.
Matthew 24 & the 7 Seals
Color Keys: Verses from Matthew 24 are in purple; the Book of Revelation are red; and other Scriptures are green.
Some of these events have been happening all along, but they have been increasing and intensifying as we approach the day of His Return.
The 2nd Vision of the Book of Revelation (Rev 4:1-6:17) gives an overview of the end-time (after Christ’s first advent). We live in the end-times. But the “end”, as seen in MATT 24:6, is different. This “end” is seen in the Sixth Seal and the Seventh Seal during which the Messiah returns!! This article seeks to show that we have already entered the first Five Seals.
The first Four Seals reveal what is known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The first rider is on a white horse, another rider on a red horse, another one on a black horse, and another rider on a pale green horse.
The Conqueror
MATT 24:3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
PULPIT COMMENTARY Many shall come in my Name … , resting on my Name, grounding their pretensions thereon. Saying, I am Christ (the Christ)…. Since then the prophecy has been fulfilled in the heretics who, professing to come in the Name of Christ and to enunciate his doctrine, or, like Mohammed, to assume his place, have taught lies.
Islam was founded in the 7th Century AD by Mohammad. The Arabic term that is translated as Messiah or Christ is used in the Qur’an, but only for Jesus. So they admit that Yeshua is the Messiah. But Islam is the essence of the antichrist spirit.
First Seal REV 6:1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals …. 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Mohammad had a white horse named Al-Burak (Barac) which means “lightning”. This was satan’s plan to imitate Christ who will come on a white horse.
Islam has been going forth to conquer almost from the start. It’s their plan for world domination.
They conquered the Holy Land. From 638AD until 1917, Jerusalem came under Muslim rule with various gaps during the Crusades. However, the land belongs to the tribes of Israel!
More recently, the Muslims “conquered” the Philippines which used to be mostly Catholic in my youth.
They “conquered” Ramallah (West Bank, Israel). In the 50’s, Ramallah was almost all Christians. I’ve read this in an old encyclopedia. And I have a Christian friend who was from Ramallah.
Today the Muslims are trying to “conquer” Dearborn, Michigan. Right now (9/2025), NYC has a Muslim mayoral candidate and if he is elected he might just implement some Sharia Law. Thank God, that Texas just outlawed Sharia Law because it is unconstitutional!
Watch out Europe! Outlaw Sharia Law! Hopefully, the world will wake up!
Today in 2025, there are 1.9 billion Muslims, about 25% of the world’s population in about 50 countries where Islam is predominant. They need to come to Christ! And many of them are, especially in Iran!
The false religion of Islam continues to be a problem in the earth.
Conflict on Earth
MATT 24:6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Older commentaries on the Bible would not have seen this, but I believe that “the wars” is a reference to WW1 & WW2. And there are certainly plenty of rumors, also. Some are dreadfully expecting WW3. Yet the end is not yet!
Second Seal REV 6:3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
Red Communism
Communism, as a political movement, started in 19th century. Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto in 1848. After Russian Revolution (1917) when Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks overthrew the Tsar, the world’s first communist state was created: the Soviet Union.
Between 1924–1953, Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party, was responsible for the murder of 20-40 million or more.
After World War II, Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, killed 40-70+ million!
There were other evil tyrants, too, notably Hitler, though he was a fascist with a racial ideology. The total deaths caused by Hitler and the Nazis is 40–50+ million people which include war deaths.
(Chatgpt info)
MATT 24:7a For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Communism continues to be a problem in the earth.
Scarcity on Earth
MATT 24:7b And there will be famines…
Third Seal REV 6:5 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. 6 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.”
Mao, already included above, is responsible for deaths mainly due to starvation. In the Bangladesh famine of 1974, 1.5 million were starved to death according to many estimates. The Ethiopia famine (1983-1985) saw 300,000-1,200,000 die from lack of food.
Fourth Seal REV 6:7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
The rider on this pale horse is Death. The Greek word chlóros could be a normal green but as this passage speaks of death it could be, in this context, a ghastly pale green.
This prophecy probably doesn’t happen all at once! It’s not likely that one morning we will wake up and a billion people are killed.
With sword: Communism is still killing Christians in prisons around the world. Also, communist North Korea is a terror to Christians.
Russia is still communist. This Ukraine-Russia war (2022 – ) is seeing a conservative estimate of 200,000 deaths (both sides) or more.
Radical Muslim terrorists are killing Christians, and sometimes with a literal sword, to this day. We need to pray that the Christians in Nigeria are not wiped out! Please pray for the persecuted Church!
With hunger: Hamas is stealing the food from Gaza. (Hopefully, that will stop soon!)
About 9 million people die every year from starvation or hunger‐related causes, according to the World Food Programme (WFP) (September 2021).
MATT 24:7b pestilences,
“Beasts of the earth”: People are dying from the “beasts of the earth”. This “pestilence” could include the tiny bacteria which causes bubonic plague, tuberculosis, Lyme disease, some types of pneumonia and other diseases. In 2017, on the island of Madagascar, an epidemic of bubonic plague broke out: over 2,000 suspected cases, and over 200 died.
There is a debate about viruses being “alive”, but some scientists call these viruses the “edge of life”. COVID-19 is an “edge of life” virus. Between the end of 2020 – 2023, millions of people died of COVID. An estimate suggests that over 2020–2021, there may have been as many as 14.9 million global excess deaths related to the pandemic (directly or indirectly).
I warned against taking the COVID vaccine. The Holy Spirit told me in a dream, some years before, that this vaccine would “infect” the people. Many people died of COVID, but many people died from the vaccine itself!
I believe there will be another COVID-type infection before the LORD returns. Taking the vaccine for this may risk your life!
The Fourth Seal has already been broken! This rider, a grim reaper, doesn’t care how he brings death – through sword, famine, pestilence or beasts. Again this Fourth Seal is continuing onward until the end of this age, until the LORD returns.
MATT 24:7c and earthquakes in various places.
Earthquakes seem to be more frequent today. These are recent examples:
In 2023, an earthquake with a magnitude 7.8 occurred in Southern Turkey & Northern Syria caused over 60,000 deaths.
A 5.7-magnitude quake in Hawaii, near Mauna Loa (Feb 2024)
A 6.2-magnitude quake in northwest Venezuela (Sept 24, 2025)
A 5.4-magnitude quake in Kutahya, northwest Turkey (Sept 28, 2025)
In 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history, caused a devastating tsunami. It was 9.1 magnitude. Roughly 227,000 people were dead or missing.
MATT 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
The “sorrows” here are often translated “birth pains”. The birth pains are fewer in the beginning. And as time goes on, they get more intense.
The Cry of the Martyrs
MATT 24:9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
People betray one another even their kin. And this chaotic world hates the Jews and Christians!
One reason that I believe we are currently in the Fifth Seal is because there are more martyrs in recent years than ever, even the time of Nero. If you do not keep up with news reports from Christian missionary agencies, you may not be aware of it.
Fifth Seal REV 6:9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated and died as a martyr for the Christian faith. According to Open Doors, 322 Christians are martyred for their faith every month! See statistics here.
FALSE PROPHETS
MATT 24:11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
False prophets abound. In the next article, we will discuss this further.
Lawlessness is rampant! Watch the news, if you dare.
THE GOSPEL PREACHED
MATT 24:13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
This preaching shows why the gathering together of His elect, the resurrection of the just, has not yet happened. The gospel needs to be preached in all the world before the LORD returns. We haven’t yet reached many groups.
(See here for details under subtitle PREACHING THE KINGDOM.)
THE END WILL COME
MATT 24:14c and then the end will come.
We are getting really close! But we aren’t there yet! There are 6000 years that Satan has control on earth and then the triumphant reign of Christ for a Millennium. This would be a total of 7000 years. Seven is the number of “completeness”.
All these seals may happen in the future, however, I think it is more likely, that the seals are a continuation of trends that started in the past. It fits.
1st Seal – Islam conquering (white horse); 7th century
2nd Seal – Communism (red horse); 19th century onward
Possibly the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th seals have begun and are happening one right after the other. They are all interconnected!
3rd Seal – Scarcity (black horse); the 20th century and onward
4th Seal – Death (pale green horse); the 20th century and onward
5th Seal – Martyrs and onward and through the great tribulation
The SIXTH SEAL, the cosmic disturbances, hasn’t happened yet.
LIFT UP YOUR HEADS!!!
Your input would be helpful but it should be based on Scripture!
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