The Second Seal

By Ashley R. Clarkson
1 July, 2002

"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword." - Revelation 6:3,4

The story thus far

Three and one half years has progressed since the signing of the Peace Treaty with Israel. The Antichrist, now firmly in control of his European Superstate, is manipulating the world to his liking. Things seem placid, for once. Too placid. War is on the way, and most know nothing about it.

A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!

"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword." - Revelation 6:4

As was the case with the First Seal, the horse depicted is here is symbolic. In fact, I'm going to save myself an awful lot of trouble right now and say this - all 4 horses are symbolic! If you think that the Tribulation is going to kick start with 4 great big horses running across the sky then I'm sorry, you've come to the wrong place. Like the first horse, which we have concluded to be representative of the antichrist, certain aspects of the horse, it's rider, and the objects it is holding/wearing have symbolic references. Time to break this horse into bite sized morsels and make something of it.

Bite sized morsels

The first thing that is glaringly obvious to me is that the horse is red. The next, is that the rider has been given the power to take away peace from the earth, so that everyone will start killing each other, and the final, is that he is given a great sword. Not just a sword, a great sword. Now that we have broken down the second horse, it's time to take a look at each of the pieces and see the significance behind them.

I see red, I see red, I see red

When we see red, we think of blood and war (we also think about food, which is why food companies use red and yellow as much as possible - they make you hungry). War is the theme of this horse. And, coming on the back of 3.5 Jewish years of peace and prosperity, will no doubt catch everybody by surprise. Having established that war is the theme of the horse, we can now look at the other parts of the horse, and see what they mean.

A 'peace' of the action

Obviously, if the second horse has power to take away peace, that means there must have been peace in the first place. One of the points mentioned in the first seal is that the Antichrist brings peace, or, at least, the illusion of it (pseudo-peace). This phrase is the confirmation of that statement. It also bears tidings. From henceforth peace is but a fond memory in the minds and hearts of the billions of humans who will now face 3.5 Jewish years of utter gloom. From now on, they will slaughter each other mercilessly, as artfully as has been practiced since the fall. All other battles before then - Waterloo, 1st Ypres, the Bulge, Midway - all these are mere preludes to what will bring humanity to the edge of extinction.

A great sword

Swords are a recurring theme in the Bible. God is described as having a great sword with which he strikes down his enemies, God's Words are described as a two-edged sword (Heb 4:12, Eph 6:17), and 'the sword' is used to describe the coming of war. The reason for this is simple. The sword was the weapon that won the battle. Oh sure, the archers played their part, arrows are certainly a good weapon to cull the enemy off at a distance, but no other weapon could compare in destructiveness, power or effectiveness like the cold hard steel of the blade (I sound like a right antique weapons enthusiast, don't I!). And here is the interpretation of the usage of 'a great sword' here. This war will be a war of great destructive weapons of massive power, like nothing ever quite used before. Oh yes, Nuclear Weapons will be used alright, they are the greatest of the great swords that we have for use on each other. This prolonged war will be a war of great ferocity and destruction. No quarter will be given, as man finally does the thing that deep down he has been just itching to do - kill off his fellow humans. Nukes, biological and chemical weapons, every little invention that the great powers have up their sleeves, high tech weapons of awesome power. A warrior's dream, a civilian's nightmare, a great sword.

"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." - Matthew 24:22

So what does this mean?

Well, from now on there is no more peace, it is just a fond memory. Of course, most people will be so caught up in killing each other that they will not be bothered so much by what is going on. As to how specific battles that will spring up from henceforth, this will be covered in a forthcoming article - the GogMagog war. The breaking of the second seal however will bring war and destruction such as never seen before. And of course, it will bring the judgements of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth seals down upon the heads of the citizens of an earth that is suddenly not such a great place to live in.