As the Lamb opened the second seal, one of the four living creatures called to the second horse. This horse is red, a color that is normally associated with war. The word for red here is actually the word associated with fire (πυρρός), hence the NIV’s “fiery red.” This is the same word which will describe the dragon on Revelation 12:3. Revelation 6:3 uses a divine passive: the rider was given a large sword.”
Although it seems clear this rider represents war, it is less clear what kind of war is intended. If the first rider is the antichrist, the natural result of an emperor bent on conquest is constant war. In fact, Jesus predicted there would be “wars and rumors of wars” as part of the birth pangs leading up to his second coming. For most interpreters, the red house represents “international and civil strife” (Charles, 164).
In the context of the first century, this is a reversal of Pax Romana. While the Peace of Rome was not a universal peace, it did mean that the Romans maintained peace and prosperity throughout the Empire. That the rider as a great sword may allude to Rome since in the Roman Empire, only the Emperor was allowed to ride with a sword (Aune, 2:396; Dio Cassius, 42.27.2).
When peace is taken from the earth, people will slay one another. The verb (σφάζω) is associated with violence and murder; it is a vivid word meaning “to slaughter, either animals or persons; in contexts referring to persons, the implication is of violence and mercilessness” (LN 20.72). In Revelation 5:6 the same verb is used to describe the Lamb standing “as though it had been slain.” Greg Beale says “is used by John without exception to refer to the death of Christ or his followers” (The Book of Revelation, 379). Beale does notice Revelation 13:3, one of the heads “seemed to have a mortal wound” (ESV), using the perfect passive participle of σφάζω. But since this is a parody of the death of Jesus, he considered it in the same category.
A problem for the view the red horse represents persecution of the followers of Jesus is the reference to people slaying one another. If the slaughter is persecution of the Lamb’s followers, then it is hard to see how they would attack one another.
In the Animal Apocalypse the writer says one of the fallen angels using a sword against the other animals and they attack one another:
1 Enoch 88.1-2 I then saw one of those four who had come out earlier seizing that first star, binding his hands and feet, and throwing him into an abyss—this abyss was narrow and deep, empty and dark. 2 Also one of them drew a sword and gave it to those elephants, camels, and donkeys; then they began to attack one another, and on account of them the whole earth was quaking.
Notice the animals attack one another. Later, the writer says “a great sword was given to the sheep” who then used it against all the other beasts of the field in order to kill them (1 Enoch 90.19).
This rider on a red horse therefore builds on the metaphor the first rider. Prior to the time when God intervenes in history to rescue his people, there will be continual civil strife, “wars and rumors of wars.” What is important here is the appearance of peace in the Roman Empire in the first century is an illusion. John is predicting the breakdown of peace as human empires strive against one another.
Red! One of the few Greek words that I remember is πυρρός which of course means fire. Red also is a color that is often associated with sin. With this being a rider that is riding on a red horse, with the historical context that we know, war seems to be the appropriate classification of what is gong on as war often leads to sinful behavior such as murder and violence. With reading Revelation 6:3-4 straight up without historical background, it would have been impossible to know about the peace that is being described in Rome during the first century. This is an interesting type of prophetic language as it is written “John is predicting the breakdown of peace as human empires strive against one another” (Reading Acts). God being one who recuses his people is an important element in this passage and all throughout scripture. We can see even today throughout world history that once peace is taken away, often the human response is violence and murder as mentioned in the article. I don’t believe that the red hose fully represents the persecution of followers of Jesus, however a continuation of war and violence from the first horse.
To start off, it is interesting that the lamb appears to have a fatal wound on his head, seeing as Jesus did not take a fatal wound to the head during the process of his crucifixion and resurrection.
I do not think the rider on the red horse is the anti-Christ, as you stated above, the red horse causes the people to attack one another, and this does not seem accurate for followers of Christ. However, followers of Christ do attack each other every day, just maybe not physically. Furthermore, as we see in 1 Enoch, angels have the ability to cause animals to attack one another. Aren’t humans just animals made in the image of God? Therefore, I do not think it is far stretched to say that the rider on the Red horse could cause the followers of Christ to attack one another, regardless of if he is the anti-Christ or not.
Furthermore, Blackwell states that “death and disease represented by the horsemen are experiences with which John’s readers would have been very familiar” (Blackwell 70). Therefore, as you also stated, within the Roman empire, only the Emperor could wear a sword. Therefore, I do lean more towards the idea that the rider on the red horse is some type of imagery for a Roman leader that was either in power or would soon raise to power.
Bibliography:
Blackwell, Ben C. and Goodrich, John K. Reading Revelation in Context: John’s Apocalypse and Second Temple Judaism. Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan. 2019.
Growing up in a Christian home we learned a lot about the Bible. However, one thing we didn’t look into much was revelation. While er read through the book and spent a small amount of time talking about it, we never really dove into what it all means and the context behind it. Now in college it is interesting to read about revelation in such a different light. One that shines understanding onto the words and images told about through all of revelation. It is interesting to think that the color of a horse can hold so much meaning over the text. The color red is associated with many things, but to look at it in this context “war” and “fire” are the two things the color is being associated with. I find it interesting to understand the context more as it reveals more and more about the book and the true meaning behind the word and imagery.
This a very important part of the book of Revelation because it is a promise from God that when the second seal is open a fiery red horse and its rider with a giant sword will be granted access to Earth, and when that horse comes all of mankind will inevitably turn against each other and war and strife will break out amongst mankind. I find this very scary because there will already be so much chaos and anarchy in the world that mankind will grow frustrated and impatient ultimately leading to war. “When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword” (Revelation 6:3-4). I think that this is very applicable to our modern day in age because there are already civil wars in many countries, and there are plenty of nations that are looking for war amongst other nations. Thus, I feel as if we are not too far off of end times; although we will never have a clue when the time really comes it is still relevant to love each other as if we love ourselves so when the day does come, we may be saved and not slaughtered by the attributes of the fiery red horseman. The thing that stood out to me the most from P.Longs blog post was when he stated, “When peace is taken from the earth, people will slay one another” (P.Long). This quote is pivotal because it is applicable to us today, for when there is no peace in the world there is no order, resulting in chaos and strife between all of mankind.
We will not know for sure till we know but it looks like covid was the white horse and now the red horse has been riding out and taking peace from the world, causing men to slay each other … the middle east has all the potential to ignite another world war of unimaginable death and destruction. If that occurs the black and pale horses will certainly follow. There are many scriptures and prophecies being fulfilled and making more sense then ever before in history at this time. Israel has been a nation for over 70 years. The times of the gentiles is coming to a end. It is the time to wake up if we are sleeping, repent, look up to Christ our salvation and prepare our hearts for the persecution he warned us would occur at that time as we lay down our life testifying to Him.
We will not know for sure till we know but it looks like covid was the white horse and now the red horse has been riding out and taking peace from the world, causing men to slay each other … the middle east has all the potential to ignite another world war of unimaginable death and destruction. If that occurs the black and pale horses will certainly follow. There are many scriptures and prophecies being fulfilled and making more sense then ever before in history at this time. Israel has been a nation for over 70 years. The times of the gentiles is coming to a end. It is the time to wake up if we are sleeping, repent, look up to Jesus Christ the Son of God who is our salvation and prepare our hearts for the persecution he warned us would occur at that time as we lay down our life testifying to Him.
The second seal is opened and it is revealed as the red horse which is associated with war. War is something we see so much and too much of in our current world, not as much as back then but still too much. Oftentimes, war is started between the same causes, such as racism, land, money, or resources. It is a sad world that we live in but also such a beautiful world that we live in. Peace and love is something the Bible preaches, to love everyone as your neighbor and I always try to take that as motivation to be nice to everyone, especially those who I don’t know a lot about. The red horse itself is oftentimes misunderstood because red means fire a lot and people often think that the red horse means fire when it actually means war. Fire to me reminds me of Hell and something that is never good, a place that everything is bad and dark. It is important to understand each of the four horses and their true meanings in the Bible, because each one represents something different and important as the other. The red horse is always important to understand and acknowledge because of the amount of wars we still see today.
Revelation 6:3-4 talks about a rider who appears on a red horse after the second seal was opened by the Lamb. Revelation 6:4 says “And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.” Essentially, the rider on the red horse was given permission to create war and absolute chaos on earth. Something that I found interesting from the blog post is that the rider might refer to Rome because only the Emperor could ride a horse while carrying a sword. This is a fact that I did not know prior to reading this post.
Revelation 6:3-4 is the perfect example of whether or not the book of Revelation should be taken literally or figuratively. Is the red horse really red or is the color red only used for symbolism? There is really no way to be certain because people had a different understanding of the book of Revelation since they were enduring it at the time. Since Christians today are familiar with a different culture, it is unclear whether the red horse was meant to be a figure of speech or if a red horse truly did exist.
The second seal reveals four living creatures, one of these four living creatures is the red horseman. The red horseman symbolizes war. This part of Revelation that talks about the horseman is my favorite part of Revelation. This is a part that doesn’t involve too much thinking, but you have to think a little bit to allow yourself to have your own interpretation of the text. I enjoyed how in this blog post we get to see the historical context of the first century, especially with the reversal of Pax Romana to help us as the readers to understand symbolism better. It is interesting to think that the picture of the red horseman with a sword might closely relate to the Roman Empire. I like how there are different ideas about the red horseman like if the horseman represents persecution or civil strife. These different ideas give different interpretations to the discussion. I liked the comparison to the animal apocalypse from Enoch 1, this is a very interesting comparison. I like how in the post there was a connection between the animals attacking each other in the text to the violence that is shown in Revelation.
It makes sense that the second seal that was opened, which represented war, was the color red. That’s the color that makes everyone think of war because blood is red. These seals represented in Revelation 6 are going to bring such terror for those who are left on the earth during that time. What I always point out in discussions when I hear others say that we are living in the end times, is that every generation believes they are, due to the sinful hearts of man that cause destruction in every generation. I’m sure those who lived back in the time of WW2 believed they were probably in the tribulation. I believe when people claim this, there is an element of truth to that statement because 1 John 4:3 says that the Spirit of the Antichrist is already in the world, and that’s because there is evil already in the world. Evil has been in the cosmic system since the fall of Satan and continued through the fall of man. Since there are evil men all over the world, the Antichrist could rise at any moment, but it’s all in God’s allowance of time. Matthew 24:6-13 seems to have been applicable to every generation. It seems throughout history there have always been wars and rumors of war, so I wonder if there is truly a “sign” or a warning before the end times actually come.
This section of Scripture brings forth a horse that is red and its mission is only destruction of the peace of man. Seeing all the wars and strife in our world today it often brings out the craziness of people. We see people and nations doing incredibly evil things to others, destroying family’s and means of living for those families without remorse. The red horseman will come specifically to take the peace away from the earth, turning each man against one another (Rev. 6:4). This lack of peace is a pretty familiar insight in our day and age. There are always wars going on, threats from one country to another, and ideas of hate spread. It is ever present in our lives as 21st century Christians. The world more and more everyday seems to draw to this imagery that the red rider presents. So much to the point you get people claiming end times is here and to start writing books. It seems that the breakdown of peace is happening that is mentioned in this post (Long, 2020). So, what does that mean for us today? Of course we should never try to predict the time, the Bible says itself that we could never know. Christ says that not even he knows the time that he will come back (Matt. 24:36). If this is understood, then we must take this section of scripture just like others in Revelation as a reminder of what is to come and to be prepared but still live our lives.
When I read about the Red Horse I laugh because we live in a world that is full of constant war. It’s really sad becuase as Americans we have almost gotten used to a war going on. For as long as I can remember I can always remember a war going on while I was alive. Whether it was America involved or foreign wars. I think it is scary to think about looking at the state that our country is in. No matter what side you stand on you have to be able and step back and see how divided and how peace has been something of the past in our country. I think the wars that will take place will not only be external, but internal wars. So many countries around the world are so divided and when the Red Horse comes he comes to take away the peace of the world. That isn’t just peace between countries but between people. I just think it’s so cool to read Revelation and see all the parallels that the book has with that time period Rome. There are so many different ways that John not only predicted the future but was able to apply those same things to Christians during that time dealing with the empire of Rome. I’m sure that throughout history there have been wars in which people have thought that this was it and that they were in the tribulation. I’m not saying by us being in constant war that we are in the tribulation, but I think that we can look at the world we live in and see that we don’t even need a seal to be broken for peace to leave the world.
often times when i’m reading revelation I often confuse the text, I find myself stuck in between whether or not the passage is being literal or metaphorical. The red horse is a great example of how confusing revelation can be. for instance in the blog post it is stated that some believe that the red horse can be Antichrist and some believe to be associated with war. Usually red is associated with war, this type of things are important because it help clear up the confusion on what the true meaning are behind these symbols. Overall I can see where the correlation of the Antichrist and the horse could come from. Instantly when you think about the Antichrist destruction and anything bad comes across you mind.