And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying: “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and the one sitting upon it had the name Death, and Hades was following him; and authority over one-fourth of the earth was given to them to kill with the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the beasts of the earth. Revelation 6: 7, 8

In the interest of accuracy, the word “pale” was translated from the word “chloros,” which means green. The translators probably used “pale” due to the rider of the horse.

The rider is called Death, but it can be more precisely thought of as Satan, who is the author of death. And it naturally follows that it is the Grave that follows Death.

People who follow and are controlled by Satan are represented by the pale horse. Both willing followers and those controlled have the power or liberty to kill because God, in His wisdom, is allowing (think Job) Satan and sin to have its season in eternity; this right alongside His righteousness that we may always have a choice.

Satan and his pale horse people are also allowed to unleash the sword, hunger, death, and wild beasts upon a fourth of the earth. A fourth is just that. It signifies a large or wide area.

As we look around the world, there are  large areas where the sword kills people and destroy crops; which produces hunger; which leads to poor health. And in these areas, pestilence often follows war. And that has caused occupants of those areas to be weakened to the point of having no protection against invading wild animals.

The areas I speak of are mostly third-world countries. They are not prosperous countries.

Again, keep in mind that all four horses; white, red, black, and pale, and their riders, ride the earth at the same time. They have roamed together from the time of the cross, and will continue in this manner until the second coming.