The Four Horses
White, Red, Black and Pale
The changes in the Christian church--its apostasies--are revealed in the change in the colors of the horses. The first horse is white. The second horse is red. The third horse is black and finally the last horse is a pale color--the color of death. Each of the four horses and the four horsemen of Revelation deal with a different period of time. They deal with the first four of seven segments of time from the death of Christ to the second coming of Christ.
The first horse and rider, white in color, represent the church going out, in victory, sharing the gospel. The time, however, eventually came where the church became a persecuting power pictured here as a rider on a red horse with a sword in his hand. The church turned on its own members killing over fifty million in a period of just over one thousand years of rule. The crime of many who were killed is the "crime" of reading the Bible. Most history books that told the truth about this have been carefully destroyed. The one that is still available in book stores today is Fox's Book of Martyrs, written By George Fox over 400 years ago. The apostate church, is pictured in Revelation 17:6 as "drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus."
The black horse is next. The rider of the black horse is seen holding the scales of death. A voice screams out "A quart of wheat for a day's wages". There seemed to be spiritual a famine for the word of God. The same voice said "Do not damage the oil and the wine!" Even though the established Christian church rebelled against God, the Spirit of God and His graces were not wholly extinguished. Through this period of time God always had those who remained true to Him. Revelation 6:6.
It was against the law to even own a Bible, another "crime" punishable by death. The "light of the world"--Jesus--was shut out and darkness replaced the light of the gospel. It was the time of the black horse, we call it the "dark" ages. Superstition controlled daily life. The pale-colored horse of death came galloping forward and the church was filled with spiritual death.