Revelation 6:7-8 meaning

In Revelation 6:7-8, the fourth seal on the scroll is broken. The scroll that was revealed in Revelation 5 is now being opened by the Lamb as He breaks each seal. The Lamb, who is Jesus, was the only one in all of heaven, and earth, and under the earth, who was found to be capable of breaking the seals and opening the scroll (Revelation 5:3-5). There are seven seals on the scroll; each is progressively broken to reveal a new section of the scroll. As each seal is broken a story comes to life, and the Apostle John watches the resulting scene from the throne room of God, the center of all authority. 

Now, the Lamb broke the fourth seal, and John heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come” (v. 7). Now the fourth of the four living creatures speaks. We met these four living creatures in Revelation 4:6-8 as attendants of God’s throne. This fourth creature now commands the fourth horseman to “Come.” 

With the fourth living creature we are told that it is the voice of the living creature. Perhaps this is because in the previous section, John heard “something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures” (Revelation 6:6). So now we are reorienting ourselves back to only hearing the voice coming from one living creature. The first living creature was said to speak as with a “voice of thunder” (Revelation 6:1). It might be presumed that all the voices are similarly like thunder. 

These horsemen who appear are commonly referred to as the “four horsemen of the apocalypse” and are individually introduced in the first four seals, one horseman being introduced with each seal. The word apocalypse comes from the Greek “apokalyptica,” which means “uncovering to reveal.” In each case, what is revealed is an authorization of judgment upon the earth. With the fourth horseman, the judgment is death. 

The fourth horse is an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth (v. 8). 

Each horse is a different color and each horseman has been given a different object and granted the authority to carry out a certain deed. The first horse was white and the horseman had a crown and the authority to conquer (Revelation 6:2). The second horse was red and the horseman had a sword and the authority to take peace from the earth through war and violence (Revelation 6:4). The third horse was black and the horseman had scales which had the authority to weigh goods and currency, with the implied authority to bring scarcity and famine upon the earth (Revelation 6:6). 

This time, the fourth ashen horse is the first to have its horseman named. In this case, the horseman had the name of Death; and Hades was following with him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth (v. 8). 

It doesn’t seem as if Death is given a new, different object like the previous horsemen, but rather he is authorized to kill with the sword like the second horseman. The second horseman was given the authority to fill the earth with war. This fourth horseman is given authority to bring death to the earth. It seems that death will come not only through war but also as the by-product of war. 

The authority given to Death, in a way, seems like a culmination of the authorities granted to the previous horsemen. The authority to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth would seem to be natural follow-ons of a great war. 

We can deduce that the first horsemen represents a tyrant that will conquer and make war. We will be introduced to this “beast” tyrant later in Revelation (Revelation 11:7, 13:1). The tyrant that conquers will take away the peace of the earth like the second horseman. The war and resulting oppression will create scarcity like the third horseman (v. 8). The result of all of these is Death. The fact that Hades is mentioned would infer that death is coming to unbelievers upon the earth. 

This fourth horseman is named Death, and is said to have Hades following with him (v. 8). 

The Greek word translated as Death is “Thanatos,” and Hades is an English transliteration of the Greek Hades. Both “Thanatos” and Hades were part of the Greek panoply of gods. So, they can be considered a personification and a place or idea. Hades was both the Greek god of the underworld as well as the place of the dead. 

Hades is mentioned a number of times in the Bible. It is used to refer to the place of the dead as well as the specific compartment in Hades where evil people go. 

In Acts 2, Peter delivers a sermon in which he quotes a Psalm of David, saying 

“Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted;
Moreover my flesh also will live in hope;
Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades,
Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”
(Acts 2:26-27)

In Psalm 16, from which Peter quotes, “Hades” translates into Greek the Hebrew word “Sheol”:

“Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”
(Psalm 16:9-10)

“Sheol” in Hebrew is translated to “Hades” in Greek in Psalm 16:10. “Sheol” in the Old Testament refers to the grave, the pit, or the place of the dead; where people go when they die. Sometimes Hades is used as a rhetorical device to refer to the lowest place, as opposed to the highest place (Matthew 11:23). It is also spoken of by Jesus as being a literal place, as in His parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:23). In that parable, Jesus spoke of a compartment for the wicked as well as a compartment for the blessed (Luke 16:23-26). 

Death and Hades go together because it is after death that people go to the place of the dead. 

We also see Death and Hades paired together as a duo elsewhere, as in 1 Corinthians 15:

“Oh Death, where is your sting?
Oh Hades, where is your victory?”
(1 Corinthians 15:55, NKJV). 

Or in Revelation 1: 

“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forever. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death”
(Revelation 1:18). 

Or at the end of Revelation in Chapter 20, 

“The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them”
(Revelation 20:13). 

Death and Hades can be personified and also exist as a place, and it is clear from scripture that they go together as a pair. 

Thankfully, both will be finally vanquished in the lake of fire. In Revelation 20:14, both Death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, along with all who did not believe in Jesus (Revelation 20:15). But at this point in the Revelation story, they have been authorized to impose themselves upon a fourth of the earth. This means that one in four people on earth will die. At the time of this writing the earth is thought to have a population of roughly 8 billion. That would mean a death toll from the war and famine of 2 billion people, an unimaginable tragedy. 

A normal death rate would be about 1% per year. Presuming this takes place in the first half of the three-and-a-half years of the “Great Tribulation,” this death rate would be roughly 17 times normal. We will see in Revelation 9:15 that another third of humanity will die. Using current population, that would mean a third of the remaining 6 billion people will die, or another 2 billion deaths. Thus the population will be reduced by at least half during the Great Tribulation. 

Such a dramatic reduction of population from war (sword) together with severe famine might explain why wild beasts of the earth become a menace to humans. The Greek word translated pestilence is “thanatos” which is translated as “death” in verse 7. This could indicate that many other forms of death will be in operation, which might include physical plagues (as in Revelation 16) and spiritual torments (as in Revelation 9).