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.
John foresaw a time when the cost of living would become so inflated that it would reach unaffordable levels. This is especially shown in the price of food, such as wheat and barley, which were a basic staple source in the ancient world. These would become measured out for an exorbitant price, revealing that even the necessities for food will become scarce worldwide as changing weather patterns, war, fuel costs and transportation issues would create great strain on the global supply chain, resulting in people struggling to feed their families and starvation spreading rapidly worldwide.
In ancient times, a penny was the equivalent of a day’s wage (Matthew 20: 2: And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.), so when the Bible tells us that a measure of wheat and three measures of barley would cost a penny each, then it reveals that the purchasing power of what we earn will become less and less, until there is no more middle class; the people will either be very rich or very poor (Revelation 13: 16).
The current economic crisis will become exponentially worse, plummeting the world economy into a depression of much greater magnitude than the Great Depression that resulted from the 1929 stock market crash. And yet the Bible startlingly reveals that the source of the Voice which valued the price of goods such as wheat and barley came from the Throne in Heaven. So it is God who fixes the prices of all things on the earth! The value of stocks and currencies, of food and fuel, of housing and so much more, all of that is actually regulated by God, not man! It is God alone who rules in the affairs of man (Daniel 4: 17), and arranges everything on the earth to bring His own Word to pass.