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Thursday 27 September 2012

The Oil and the Wine...

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 lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

I was listening to Back to the Bible yesterday where Woodrow Kroll was teaching on the four horsemen of the apocalypse. What caught my attention was his explanation of the line in verse 6 of Revelation 6 where it says : and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.  The first seal is the antichrist making his appearance, the second seal is a war on the earth and then the third seal  represents a famine. During the times of this famine, it will cost a person's entire daily wage to buy food sufficient for just one person. Then we come to part "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine".  What does that mean?? Woodrow Kroll seemed unsure of the meaning but he suggested that in the days of this tribulation there will still be a divide among the rich and poor people on the earth. The poor struggling to put food on the table and the rich having excess described by the terms oil and wine. BUT, I would like to share a different perspective on the interpretation of "the oil and wine". My Dad ( he has already passed on to glory) was a preacher and Bible teacher and he had quite a different explanation for this. He believed that the "oil and wine" refers to medicine and heathcare being available to those in need of it. (Whether it will be government run is not clear but  perhaps you could think of organizations such as The Red Cross etc) Let me explain why he thought "oil and wine" could refer to medicine and healthcare. We all have heard Bible teachers say you must interpret Scripture with Scripture. When you look in the story of the good Samaritan - what does the Samaritan use to dress the wounds of the injured man who fell among thieves. Luke 10:34 says And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. We can see from this that oil and wine were used in Biblical times for medicinal purposes.
 So to conclude, I cannot say whether Woodrow Kroll has the correct interpretation here or whether my Dad does but for the benefit of those living in the days of the tribulation period, I would hope that healthcare and medicine would be available to them in those days.

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