“When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-6)
It is interesting to have observed that when the long lockdown due to Covid-19 was about to commence in Victoria Australia, there was panic buying across the state and in the end people were lining up to get the basic necessities. I also stood in line at one time to get what we needed as a family. While there was still food available in the supermarkets most of the tinned goods, toilet paper, rice and other essential food products used for cooking were missing from the shelves. Supplies were coming in but being snapped up virtually as soon as they came in. In the end people were restricted to how much of the same products they could buy.
A couple of weeks ago or there about I noticed an online media report published earlier this year that Bill Gates was buying up farmland all across America and that he is now the biggest owner of farmland in the United States. Now some may well give their reasons as to why Bill Gates is doing this but it is possible that in the very near future food control and distribution will require allegiance to a system of government that sees people being controlled through the medium of food.
With the Democrats in power in the White House the socialist agenda in America is alive and making inroads through the Biden Harris Administration. Not only do we see the socialist agenda in America but it is also being perpetrated in Australia, Great Britain and across Europe. There may be a possibility that the next ‘pandemic,’ as such, might well be a shortage of food not only in America but on a global scale. Possibly Bill Gates knows something that the rest of us don’t?
One of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse was the black horse of famine and scarcity. In the riders hand he held scales that were used for measuring out wheat at exorbitant prices that would only be possible for those who could afford it. This third horse followed hard on the heels of the second horse which was red and its rider had been given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other and to him had been given a large sword.
Of course this red horse represents war on a global scale. Famine, scarcity of the basic needs and even plague always follow war. We can already see a future war looming on the horizon which we are told in the Book of Revelation will take out a third of mankind due to awesome fire power and the fallout that follows. (Revelation 9: 13-19) The four main antagonists are China, Iran, North Korea and Turkey. Any of these nations could well kick start WW3. Such a war will not only see millions die but millions experiencing scarcity of food. We see large scale famine in the world today already having its devastating effect especially in third world countries but not exclusively in those countries alone.
According to an online report around the world, more than enough food is produced to feed the global population. However, more than 690 million people still go hungry. After steadily declining for a decade, world hunger is on the rise, affecting 8.9 percent of people globally. From 2018 to 2019, the number of undernourished people grew by 10 million, and there are nearly 60 million more undernourished people now than in 2014.*
It may be you are a believer in the Lord Jesus and his bond slave yet you are troubled by the dark spectre of scarcity that is coming on the nations of the world. Well consider Elijah the prophet, a type of the faithful remnant in the last days. Even though Jezebel had killed most if not all of the prophets and Elijah was the only one left, there were seven thousand in Israel that God had reserved and undoubtedly preserved who had not bowed the knee to Baal, a type of the image of the Antichrist and his beast empire. Added to this, when Elijah had run for his life and ended up in a cave and in a tired mood of despondency the Lord provided food for him supernaturally by the ravens and the food supplied his physical needs and gave him the strength to complete God’s plan for his life and ministry.
During the time of the Great Trouble multitudes of the Lord Jesus’ faithful bond slaves will be laying down their lives empowered by the Spirit of God to be martyrs for Him but some will escape. In these days to come God will do supernatural miracles for His people and provide for their needs in ways that we can hardly imagine living in the western democracies with its ease, comfort and plenty. However, already things are rapidly changing in the west.
War and famine and plague are ahead for the world but we who are sheltering by faith under the atoning, redeeming, sanctifying and cleansing blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus have a certain future and a blessed hope regardless of what happens to us in this present life. (Romans 5:9) God is going to provide for our needs as He did for Elijah and undoubtedly the 7,000 in Israel who were also still living at that time.
Right now the Lord is calling us to be faithful, to be servants of the Word of God and to seek fellowship with Spirit-filled believers as we see the day of the Lord approaching and our redemption drawing near! We may not know our future but we know who holds our future in the Palm of his hand. As John Wesley said on his deathbed; “Best of all God is with us!” and He is you know!
*Source: https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/world-hunger-facts-statistics
