Revelation 6:5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”
A black horse and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand: The scales symbolized the need to carefully measure and ration food. This speaks of a time of scarcity. A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius: These prices are about twelve times higher than normal. It means that it would cost a day’s wage to buy the ingredients for a loaf of bread. This describes “a time of famine when life will be reduced to the barest necessities.” Yet there seems to be oil and wine for those who can afford it. This time is following the one who conquers and the one who takes peace away and where people give little thought to human life. Those who seem to have survived this time will now face the uncertainty of basic daily necessities. Think about all that is to come, shouldn’t it drive us to be more thankful, grateful, and want to give praise, honor, and glory to Jesus Christ for what we currently have? We should not be too busy to be thankful. We shouldn’t be complacent and neglectful and forget the grace, mercy, and love given to us through Jesus Christ. If all you have is taken away – what do you have left? Those who trust in Christ have eternity, hope, faith, and perfect peace even though what they have is gone. Those who remain on earth after the seals begin to be opened will have a very difficult time wrapping their minds around what is happening and only a small number of them will realize they rejected Jesus and will be saddened by that fact. The rest will go about life from one tribulation (seal) opened to another. they will see the beginning of the end approaching and will not even know it. They will be searching for things in this world that will no longer be. For sure there is a time of judgment coming.
