Hello John and Doves,
I wanted to take another look at Revelation
6:8, specifically the part about the 'wild beasts of the
earth' that come about when the fourth horse and rider of
the Apocalypse appear on Earth.
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hades was
following with him; and authority was given
to them over the fourth of the earth, to kill
with the sword, and with famine, and with plague, and by
the beasts of the earth."
"Beasts of the earth" is also translated in
other versions as "wild beasts of the earth", "wild animals
of the earth".
The word "beast" in both Old and New Testaments
generally denotes a mammal in distinction to a man, a bird
or a fish. Even in Acts, Peter describes seeing
"...four-footed animals of the earth, wild beast, reptiles
and birds." (distinct groups) Acts 11:6 And in Ezekiel
14:15 "Of if I send wild beasts through that country and
they leave it childless...desolate so that no one can pass
through it because of the beasts." These beasts can be
deadly to man and are distinct from birds and fish and
domestic animals (four-footed animals).
These wild beast are given over to Death and
Hades - who have "authority" over them. And Death and
Hades use them to attack and kill men.
There are 8 billion people on the earth
now. A fourth of that is 2 billion. That's one
in four people. 25% of all the people. Compare that to the 334,490 or so people in the
U.S. And India has about 1.4 billion people.
It's not out of my 'understanding' to see how a
fourth of the population of earth could be killed by
war/weapons, famine/starvation, plagues/pestilence/disease -
especially with the use of nuclear weapons, massive drought,
viruses/bacteria (like the Spanish Flu, the Black Death) but
the "beasts of the earth" is way outside my grasp in this
list of four causes of the death of 2 billion people.
If these cause death in a somewhat equal number - that would
mean half a billion people would die by war, half a billion
by hunger, half a billion by a virus/bacteria/etc. and half
a billion by wild animals.
This youtube has information
about Revelation 6:8 and the "wild beasts of the earth".
run time 10:46
In Ezekiel 5:17: "So will I send
upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall
bereave thee; and pestilence and blood
shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword
upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it."
This verse covers the same four causes of death as in
Revelation 6:8 - the sword, famine, pestilence and
beasts.
Different versions translate "evil beasts"
of the King James version as "wild beasts", "dangerous
animals", "wild animals". I don't think I'd
include insects in this - they would probably go with
famine (locusts) and pestilence (various diseases spread
by insect vectors). Nor would I include birds or
reptiles.
In Jeremiah 15:3, the Lord says, "I will
appoint over them four kinds, saith the
Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs
to tear, and the fowls of the heaven and
the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy."
So
here we are told about destruction of man by the sword
and dogs, birds, and the beasts of the earth.
Another translation is, "I will send four kinds
of destroyers against them," says the Lord. "I will
send the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away and the birds
of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and
destroy.
Isaiah 56:9: "All ye beasts of the field,
come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest."
"Beasts of the field" is also "wild animals in the
field/forest", "animals in the field/forest".
The youtube channel Rapture is Here has another
video, "Millions of Animals Are Acting Strange Final Rapture
Sign." This is about those animals we read about a
while back and saw videos of, 'circling' - the sheep,
horses, reindeer, fish, orcas, ants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yoq_4pnnDY
run time 9:33
It is quite obvious from the written Word that
the Lord is going to allow the use of the "beasts of the
field" to bring destruction - kill a very large number of
people - in the Tribulation Period.
The wild animals will come out of the fields
and the forests and attack human beings. There will be
so much death caused by them that it will, when added to the
deaths brought about by war, famine and plague, equal some
two billion people.
We already know how frightening it is to think
of a man being attacked, killed by a bear or a mountain lion
or a pitbull...It happens in the U.S. But what the
Lord is speaking of will be rampant, a common occurrence,
and in great numbers - and involves the actual
hunting down and killing of a man by an animal.
This will absolutely shock people to the
core. Trying to stay out of a war zone, or finding
enough food to eat, or finding antibiotics/treatment for or
avoiding deadly plague would have been bad enough....
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance