So far, as the Lamb has opened the seals, John sees a drama in his vision representing the narrative of the part of the scroll that is uncovered. The first scene was of an impostor-saviour who is determined to conquer the world. The second scene is of global conflict in which peace is destroyed and nations rise against each other in barbarous warmongering. The third seal is different. As before, one of the seraphs ordered another horse to gallop into view: but this time the animal is black. Its rider holds a pair of weighing scales like a merchant in the market.

When the first four seals were broken open by the Lamb, each of the four living creatures, God's herald-seraphs, announced the entrance of a coloured horse into John's vision. Now the drama, which describes the narrative under the fifth seal, is released without any further introduction. The four horsemen of the apocalypse have shown God's judgement sweeping out onto a rebellious world, like the horsemen of Zechariah 6:1-8.

This part of Revelation has intrigued many people, and a variety of different interpretations have been constructed to fit in with different systematic views of the book. We will look at the text as it stands. Let us remind ourselves that the vision was given to John by Jesus Christ, who, in

John was greatly awed by the vision that Jesus showed him. In the centre was the throne with Father God seated and the Lamb of God standing, surrounded by all the angels (Revelation 5:11) – a huge number of divine servants.