Prayer – Lord God, death comes to us all—we can’t escape it. But one-fourth of all the people on earth at one time. That is a lot of people. There will be so much grief and sadness with those who are left living. Comfort and strengthen them Lord.
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the
fourth living being say, "Come!" I looked up and saw a horse whose
color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the
Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill
with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals. Revelation
6:7-8
Graves at the Mt. of Olives
Jerusalem, Israel
When a couple million people die--
--will they even be buried?
Meditate. Death or Life.
Death comes to all of us ultimately. We cannot escape it.
But a strange pale green horse and rider called Death and its companion, Grave,
bring a strange situation. Death by disease, famine, and war—even by attacking
wild animals. All of them horrible ways to die for one-fourth of the world
population, which in 2021 was 7.9 billion. One fourth would be roughly nearly
two billion people.
According to the Center for Disease Control in the United
State statistics for 2021, the top leading cause of death is heart disease, followed
by cancer, COVID-19, accidents, strokes, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s,
diabetes, chronic liver diseases, and nephritis. Surprisingly, death from “wild”
animals includes about one million people world-wide who die annually from mosquitoes.
Diseases attack millions—yet this horse and rider bring unusual death to so
many at once. This is reminiscent of the Angel of Death during the Hebrews’ first
Passover in Egypt. You can almost hear the anguish cries of loved ones—as in
Egypt and as this fourth rider rides around the world spreading death. Death is
not proud. It comes to the Christian, as well as the non-Christian. Those not
knowing Christ may be doomed to an eternity without Him…in hell. For those left
behind—loved ones who survive the onslaught of disease, famine and war—life may
seem unbearable. Grief is as real as death—and the world will be is hurting. No
peace or joy when so many died.
Verse of Salvation ~ For the kind of sorrow God wants us
to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There's no
regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance,
results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10
©
2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights
reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless
otherwise noted.
New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House
Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.
Books by Mickey M.
Hunacek
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