Revelation 6:5-6 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and see a black horse… It is a vision of scarcity, of insufficiency, not of absolute famine. The world does not seem to contain enough for all, and there happens a continual struggle for the bare necessaries of bodily life. Every year this is becoming more evident. Most present-day problems have their roots in it, and these problems press with such terrible force upon us that, I suppose, St. John's vision can never have seemed more picturesquely true than it seems to-day. With our constantly growing popula-ion, the difficulty increases by leaps and bounds. The effect of it is an absorbing anxiety, a restless elaboration of contrivance — How can these present difficulties be overcome? and what new ones will start into sight when the old ones have disappeared? — till a large part of life seems taken up by the problem of how to live. Is any precept of Christ harder than this, "Take no thought for your life," etc. Perhaps if we were alone, with nothing but our own personal salvation to think about, it would be easier. But you are not alone. Others depend on you. Husband, think of your wife; think of the children whose future depends so much on you. And if we go down in social life to the lowest depths of poverty, the struggle for existence becomes piteous. It is terrible to face it, but it is well to face it sometimes. In this abyss, insufficiency has become destitution; the struggle has lost all that it seemed to have of manliness and force; it has deformed life into a chaos of brute instincts; it has become parent of crime, disease, and death. Such is the vision of human want. And from the living creatures before God's throne the appeal is made to Jesus Christ, "Come!" What is it, this appeal to the "Lamb as it had been slain"? It is for manifestation of the higher life, the true life, the eternal life which is the knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ. Sometimes the least spiritually impressionable person is forced to see that there is indeed a higher life. The pressure of earthly things relaxes its hold upon you for a moment; above the ceaseless clamour of the world's voices the voice of Jesus makes its way to your heart, never lessening its claim upon your life, never taking from the promise its consolation, "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Yes, there is indeed a higher life. But it seems so hard of attainment in the life that I am living now. I am in the shadow of the black horseman; I am a sharer in the great struggle for existence. The thought of the higher life is wearisome; the life of prayer, of hourly communion with a Divine Friend, the life of the love of God, of joy in the knowledge of His presence and love, the life of glad obedience, of patient endurance. It all seems so hopeless. We cannot think of higher things. Is not this true of you? The struggle for existence makes us slaves in spirit. Surely the appeal from the living creatures to Christ is wanted for us to-day: Come, with Thy knowledge of the Father's will. Come, with Thy strong rejoicing in the Father's love. Come, with Thy unfaltering obedience. Come, with Thy victorious endurance. Let Thine be the Spirit which takes possession of a world in want, O Thou Lamb of God! (A. H. Simms, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. |
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