“When He broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, Come and look! And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and in his hand the rider had a pair of scales (a balance). And I heard what seemed to be a voice from the midst of the four living creatures, saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius [a whole day’s wages], and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm the oil and the wine!” Revelation 6:5-6 ->me: In scripture the black horse signifies famine and the rider is holding a set of scales. In famine governments of the land would ration out grain by measure (thus the scales) daily to the people of the country. The words from the voice amid the creatures talk about a worker paying a full days wages for a single ration of wheat, which means he would not have enough to feed his dependents. I think the ‘do not harm the oil and wine’ is a picture of the necessities of life for the poor will be in short supply while the luxuries of the rich will not cease; a time of famine which is not yet a disaster. Things are difficult but the end is not yet. I can get like this (this is my personal application) – Here I am with my nice home, plenty of food, with fast internet, full satellite television, clothes I need to take to Goodwill, and multiple cars….and my biggest question a couple of days ago was – “Why isn’t my wife’s new cell phone here when they said it would be???”. In other words I am worrying about the wrong things…what about my neighbors who are unsaved, the countless homeless that need help, the human trafficking problem right here in Seattle, the kids in poverty eating the same (government provided) cheese sandwiches everyday next to my daughter at school. This seal is a reminder to me who has ‘literally’ everything, to raise my fat head up and start paying attention to the needs of those around me…and do something about it.
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