The Second Seal—WAR
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Back to 1The Bible’s Greatest Prophecies Unlocked!
When the second seal opens, a red horse appears: “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”
(Rev. 6:3-4). As with Christ in Revelation 19:1-21, the sword is here shown as an instrument of war and killing.
This horse and rider “take peace from the earth.” The opposite of peace is war. When peace is removed, war is what remains. This pictures the “wars and rumours of wars” that Christ referenced in Matthew 24:6.
Wars have continued and grown steadily worse since the time of Christ’s prophecy. But this part of John’s astounding vision has the gravest implications for all alive on Earth today.
This horseman represents the dreadful destruction of world war. In the Matthew 24:1-51 parallel prophecy, war immediately follows false Christianity. By the end of the age, the potential for devastation in war has become so great that it holds the power to take peace not just from two or more nations, but now “from the earth.”
Only in the modern age have such terrible weapons of mass destruction been available. The twentieth century saw the two most devastating wars in history, with World War II far more destructive than World War I.
We are now in the last recess—intermission—preceding the time of the truly greatest war, prophesied to exceed anything in the last century. A sinning, rebellious humanity will soon reach the end of its rope. We have reached a time when war’s potential cannot grow worse, because it can now erase all life from Earth in one final blast of complete destruction—if Christ did not intervene and cut events “short” (Mt 24:22). You will also later learn much more about this.
But the pattern of history is that famine always follows war. This is why famine (the third seal) follows on the heels of war (the second seal).
The Third Seal—FAMINE
The third seal opens and a black horse, a symbol of famine, appears: “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 you hurt not the oil and the wine” (Rev. 6:5-6).
This pictures extreme worldwide famine—a widespread lack of food beyond anything civilization has ever seen—and any student of history knows that it has seen a great deal. This devouring condition is seen to be seizing the entire world in an extraordinary way. Famine is now far worse than most imagine. Again, much more will follow later in a separate chapter.
The Fourth Seal—DISEASE
The opening of the fourth seal reveals a pale horse, which represents pestilence or disease: “And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth” (Rev 6:7-8).
This horse is depicted as pale because it is sickly. It obviously represents disease—pestilence! Invariably, war leads to famine—and resulting malnutrition invites a host of diseases. New diseases, or old ones grown worse, seem to be appearing almost daily. The death toll from disease around the world is staggering—now over 82,000 die every day!
Disease is a subject tremendous in size, and the topic of an endless number of entire books. As with the fulfilment of the other seals, far more information is available about it than could begin to fit in this short section. Yet again you are left to prepare for a fuller picture later.
The Fifth Seal—THE GREAT TRIBULATION
The opening of the fifth seal does not reveal a horse. Instead, it introduces and briefly overviews the soon-to-come worst time of world trouble in history (Matt. 24:21; Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1)—the Great Tribulation!
Again, many prophecies in both the Old and New Testaments explain and describe this period. This world-changing event will be truly colossal in nature—and thoroughly explaining all elements of it involves far more than the space available in this chapter.
Of course, the most terrible wars, famines and diseases still lie ahead. And these will greatly intensify before the Great Tribulation begins. Even so, remember that, after Jesus had described the first four seals, plus earthquakes, He concluded, “All these are the beginning of sorrows [travail or tribulation]” (Matt. 24:8). They are far from the end of matters.
The first thing to follow these beginning events and conditions is the Tribulation. We will shortly prove this.
But first we need to explain another important aspect of what the Tribulation means.
Here is what Jesus told His disciples would occur next: “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for My Name’s sake” (Mt 24:9).
Now understand something. Two different pronouns appear in this passage—“they” and “you.” Jesus did this for a very specific reason. Whenever Jesus was describing true Christians, He spoke of “you.” Those who were deceivers and not of the truth—the many who are falsely converted—are generally referred to in Scripture as “they” or other similar pronouns.
Sometimes the term “you” can also refer to national Israel or national Judah, or to these and to true Christians. Whenever the passage is speaking nationally, it is either referring to Israel or Judah, or both. When coupled with Mark 13:1-37 and Luke 21:1-38, it is obvious that Jesus is referring to both in Matthew 24:1-51.
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