Night of the Living Dead

Don't you know what's goin' on out there? This is no Sunday School picnic! --Night of the Living Dead, 1968

 

A couple of months ago, the Centers for Disease Control in Washington came out with a  pamphlet called "Preparedness 101: Don't Be A Zombie".  The tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign, including the poster shown above, used the tag-line, "If you're ready for a zombie apocalypse, then you're ready for any emergency."  The purpose of it was to raise awareness for preparing for known hazards, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and floods, by making people think about unknown hazards. It advised people to make an emergency kit, including bottled water and imperishable food items, first aid kits, and flashlights.  There has long been a fascination for the "undead", so the CDC used it as the basis for its awareness campaign.  It has been wildly successful, too, becoming an overnight internet sensation.

I thought of this when I read the passage from Revelation 6:7-8 which describes the opening of the Fourth Seal.

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse!  Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."

We know from our previous study what the fourth living creature looked like.  Revelation 4:7 says, "The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle."  The eagle was thought to be the strongest of the predatory birds, and the only one among the four creatures with the ability to fly.  This sense of strength was seen in Psalm 103:5, when it is used to describe a gracious and good God, "who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."  The same imagery is used in Exodus 19:4, when God reminds his people of his provision for them: "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle's wings, and brought you to myself."  Elsewhere in Isaiah 40:30-31, the image is used as encouragement to the faithful: "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

When this creature summons, he is answered by a Pale Horse, whose rider was Death, followed closely by Hades, the place of the dead.

The term "pale" is translated several ways in different sources.  The Amplified Bible describes the horse as ashy pale, "black and blue as if made so by bruising".  This might refer to the parallel passage in Zechariah 6, where one of the horses is dappled.  But the actual Greek word used is chloros, the root of the English word "chlorophyll".  In other words, having a green pallor, like sickness.  This is where my mind went to Zombies. But my mind quickly returned to Biblical truth (God, forgive me!), and I searched for other references to the word "pale".

• Shame and Despair
  "Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob: No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale." (Isaiah 29:22)  Have you ever been caught in the act of doing something shameful? When you were literally caught with your hand in the cookie jar, could you feel the blood drain from your face, terrified of the punishment to come?
• Sickness and Death
  "Ask and see: Can a man bear children? Then why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, every face turned deathly pale?" (Jeremiah 30:6)  When the situation looks bleak, many of us have a physical reaction--we literally become sick.  Jeremiah was poking fun at the men, who apparently looked like women in labor, they were so pale-skinned.
• Spent and Exhausted
  "So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless."  If God were to show us exactly what would happen in the future, we would certainly grow faint.

The rider of the horse was accompanied by Death and Hades, the "place of the dead".  He was given power to kill a fourth of the earth.  I will confess I do not know whether this is geographic or demographic--whether it is a fourth of all known countries that will follow the Beast, or if it is one quarter of all living people.  It might even refer to this rider as the fourth of four Apocalyptic visions, where a fourth of the people who are slated to die will be killed by the conquering rider of the White Horse, and a fourth of those to be killed die in the war of the rider of the Red Horse, and a fourth of those to be slain die in the famine brought by the rider of the Black Horse.  This interpretation is mine; I have not read it in any of the commentaries that I researched in.  But it follows the axiom that God is in control--he has pre-destined those who should be saved, and also those who will damned to eternal Death.  But if you follow it logically, the first seal foretells of the conquest of sin; after all sin is brought to light, men wage war against each other, signified by the second seal.  Famine, the third seal, follows war, as crops and livestock would have been destroyed; and Death, the fourth seal, follows famine, as people die of hunger and malnutrition.

The latter part of verse 8 mentions four means of death for those who fall victim to God's wrath: sword, famine and plague, and by the beasts of the earth.  War and Famine have already been mentioned in the description of the Seven Seals in Revelation 6.  Plague is not mentioned as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but it could follow closely with injury and malnutrition.  Not every casualty of war is killed; some are maimed, and later contract sepsis in their wounds.  Infection is a definite possibility, as it would be with starving children affected by a Famine, unable to ward off illness due to malnutrition.  As for the wild beasts, some commentators write that as the human population decreases, the population of wild animals will increase, and animal attacks might be more common.  Jeremiah 15:2-3 says, "And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell them, 'This is what the Lord says: Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.  I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,' declares the Lord. 'The sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy'."  Other commentators feel that this is a mis-interpretation of the original Greek word--that the word "beast" refers to the anti-Christ, who will be introduced later.

Some people equate Hades with the concept of Hell.  It is not quite the same.  Hades is mentioned as a gathering place for dead people, like a giant mausoleum or graveyard.  The Hebrew word Sheol refers to a place outside Jerusalem where people would deposit dead bodies to be burned, so that whatever killed them would not infest the city.  This word Sheol is often translated Hades, as it was literally a place of the dead.  Later in Revelation 20 we will see that there will come a time when the dead are judged, and Death and Hades will be thrown into a lake of fire.  "This lake of fire is the second death."  It is a literal Hell.  So the good news is that Death will be no more; the bad news is that those without Christ will be cast into the lake of fire, where they will long for death but never reach it.

I really don't understand those Christian denominations that do not give much weight or thought to the Old Testament.  At the end of the New Testament, if you have not repented, it will be too late for you.  But in the Old Testament, whenever it mentions Death, it also mentions Life.  The contrast is there for all to see: sin leads to death, but repentance leads to life; the Law condemns to death, but Grace gives hope for life.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.  For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers."  Hosea 13:14 says, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.  Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Grave, is your destruction?"  The Apostle Paul quotes this verse in his explanation of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:55-56: "Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Jesus said in Revelation 1:18 "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and Hades."  Jesus died and broke sin's curse, so that after my body dies, I will not have to endure the second death.  God is offering you his salvation.  Why wouldn't you take hold of it?

We may not enjoy living together, but dying together isn't going to solve anything. --Night of the Living Dead, 1968