The pale horse

“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.” Revelation 6:7-8
This is the fourth horseman, riding a ‘pale’ horse. In some translations the word is ‘dappled’; the Greek is chloros – the same word from which we get ‘chlorine’ or ‘chlorophyll’. It means a pale green, sickly horse, and the horse represents sickness and death. This is a result of the war, the food shortage, and additional plagues that will come upon the earth at this time. A quarter of the earth’s population will be killed during this period. This is a significant number of people. Later in the Tribulation we read of a third of the remaining population being killed by the destroying angels (Rev. 9:15), which would leave only half the world’s population remaining.
The mention here of the ‘wild beasts of the earth’ is also interesting. The word is therion, which can refer to a dangerous beast of any size – including those that are microscopic.
It’s also important to note that the rider, personifying Death, and Hades, do not always have power over people but must be given it. The lives of every person on earth is in God’s hands, until He decides to hand them over to Death.