The fourth seal released “Death,” followed by “Hades” to gather the dead in its wake – Revelation 6:7-8.

To this point, the “victims” harmed by the first three seal openings have not been identified, although the details from the assigned task of each “rider” provide certain clues. Nothing has been said about the enemies of the “Lamb,” or about judgments against the “inhabitants of the earth.” Moreover, the actions of the “four riders” are never labeled “plagues,” “wrath,” or “judgments.”

The third seal released a rider on a black horse and economic hardship – Revelation 6:5-6.

The “Lamb” opened the third “seal,” and once again, one of the “four living creatures” summoned its rider, this one riding a “black horse” that, apparently, represented economic distress and food shortages. As before, the task of the rider was declared by one of the four “living creatures,” as well as the limitations on its effects (“the oil and the wine do not harm”).