Famine In The Midst Of Plenty

Q. Love your site.   Do you see any connection between the Oil and the Wine that the Good Samaritan poured into the injured man’s wounds, compared to the command in Revelation 6  during famine ” See thou hurt not the Oil and the Wine “  ?   One commentator said that the latter passage referred to Christians being protected during the tribulation,  but that doesn’t square  with the Antichrist being given power to overcome the Trib Saints.  What say you ? 

A. The 3rd seal of Rev. 6 has to do with famine and the scarcity of food.  Oil and wine were customarily associated with wealth.  Remember the seal judgments are either geographically or demographically fractional, involving 1/4th of the world or 1/4th of the people or both. (Rev. 6:8)  They don’t impact everyone everywhere like the bowl judgments that come later. I think the concept John was trying to describe here is one of famine in the midst of plenty.  We’re experiencing a mild form of that now, where most people are suffering huge losses but a few of the wealthy are profiting handsomely.