Revelation 6:8
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Thus shalt thou say unto them, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: ‘As I live, surely they that are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured; and they that are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.’ ” (Eze. Eze. 33:27) [emphasis added]
There is intentional irony in God’s reversal of roles as men become the source of food for beasts (Gen. Gen. 9:2-3 cf. Eze. Eze. 29:5; Eze. 39:17-20; Rev. Rev. 19:17-18+). When man is disobedient to God, He reverses the original divine order where man was given dominion over the beasts (Gen. Gen. 1:26-28; Gen. 9:2-3) and gives man into the hand of beasts (Lev. Lev. 26:22; Deu. Deu. 32:24). The beasts will be emboldened both because of the emaciated and sickly condition of men and the scarceness of their own food supply. “Once food becomes scarce, wild animals which generally leave man alone will begin to attack man for food.”10
Notes
1 Frederick William Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 882.
2 M. R. Vincent, Vincent’s Word Studies (Escondido, CA: Ephesians Four Group, 2002), Rev. 6:8.
3 Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1992), Rev. 6:8.
4 Ibid.
5 See the world population clock: [http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/popclockw].
6 Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 737.
7 “Metonymy of the Effect, the effect (death) put for the cause producing it (pestilence).”—Jerome Smith, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992), Rev. 6:8.
8 John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), Rev. 6:8.
9 “The context of Ezekiel Eze. 5:17 (Eze. Eze. 5:12-16) indicates that the famine, beasts, pestilence, and sword of that passage are expressions of God’s wrath.”—Renald E. Showers, Maranatha, Our Lord Come (Bellmawr, NJ: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, 1995), 115.
10 Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 219.