The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) — 1497–1498 · Woodcut · From The Apocalypse series (impressions in many museums)

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” — Revelation 6:8 (KJV)

About

From Dürer's Apocalypse of 1498, the most famous print series ever made: the Four Horsemen charge across the page — Conquest with his bow, War with his sword, Famine with his scales, Death on a gaunt horse with Hell's mouth gaping below.

The Meaning

Dürer cut this while Europe trembled at the year 1500, and it still defines how the West pictures Revelation 6. The horsemen ride down bishop and peasant alike — but they ride out of a heaven opened by the Lamb, which is the doctrine inside the terror.

For Us Today

Read the seals and do not fear them — they are Christ's to open, not Satan's to loose (Revelation 5:5). The church's comfort in every plague and war is that the riders run on a leash held by the Lamb.

Image: Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons — the file’s page. Tap the picture to open the full-size original there.