Revelation 6 relates to the 4 horses of judgment that leave heaven to bring waves of judgment each with a sector of society.

In Revelation whilst a lot of the imagery is symbolic and prophetic we must as teachers of the Word wade through these factors and make a contemporary interpretation. As it is to date Italy is in a national lock down due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Over 9000 infected as reported. Of these horses which Revelation speaks, it covers sectors of our daily life and work. In this Coronavirus crisis we see all 4 horses at work. The conquering of nations by ideologies and humanism.

We are now seeing in the last 120 years how peace has been taken from the earth in the capacity for the whole globe to be at war. We have seen the Great Depression of the 30s and the economic crisis of 2008 when huge banking sectors collapsed. So we see that also affected with the propagation of this virus however it really is, whether is mass hysteria, real but low level virus effects, control of populations, a high level interference in the governmental makeup in each nation.

For me I see this as a rehearsal for something far greater and even more serious than this. Revelation is clear about what the imagery is about, it is the world against the Church and the Testimony she holds. John says in chapter 1 and the first verse that it is because of the constraining of this Testimony that he is motivated to write this apocalyptic vision.

Are we fear mongering ? No. We are preparing you for the future. There is no doubt that persecution will come, there is no doubt the Church, as she becomes like Christ will be on a collision course with the world. The world represents all that is against God. It is corrupted by the Prince of this world.

When I was preparing for 2020, the Lord took me to Ezekiel 9. In this Scripture I saw God sending the Angels to mark the people. The Lord applied it to me, saying that in 2020 God would put a mark, a seal on those who are so prepared, so alert, walking with Him. This mark would protect them from the judgments to come. I sensed that this year there would be a process so difficult to obtain this Mark from God. It would entail remaining in faith to “death”.

How many are passing through trials right now? How many face death? The word for “testimony” in the Greek is “martureo” which we get the word martyr. God will take us through a process where we will face death, and as we do and remain in faith we will receive the mark. This mark says we have received Jesus’ witness before the Father.

I sent out a word on Sunday about Churches being prepared. They are not. And I believe in 2 months we shall have seen a change how society will have changed. Some will experience the virus, and recover, some will die, some will pass through makeshift isolation units.

But the precedent has been set. Governments through fear have succeeded in locking down the population. So it is a barrier that must be broken so that a One World Government can come forth. I sense in my spirit that the virus will pass but something worse is coming. Is the Church prepared? Not sure as i do not know what preparations are taking place.

In the end it won’t be a virus that provokes fear, emergency legislation, it will ultimately be the Church. Once the stability is the aim of regimes then enemies that are precedents for crack down.

What comes to mind is the Fire of Rome about AD 63. Nero needed to find a scapegoat to blame for the fire. He pinned it to the Christian faith. What we know is that over 290 years of persecution started from this precedent. History has a habit of repeating itself. The Roman empire became subject to the Church through Constantine and his conversion. The persecution stopped. So for those years many leaders and ministers died. Revelation as a book is set in this context of Roman Empire sponsored persecution. God made sure Rome paid for it. The Empire collapsed in the 5th century.

This post if it strikes fear then we must ask God to inspire faith. Faith that God will bring a Holy Spirit encounter to strengthen His Church. Will use these times to refine His people. The 4 horses have gone out.

The end of this is a Victorious King. He is our Lord and our Lover. He will bring us through.

The key is preparation.

Shalom.