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 ESV).
When Jesus opens the second seal, a fiery red horse comes out! Artists use red sparingly because it commands attention. And God, the master painter, used the brightest red possible to paint the mission of this second rider. This is a very clear warning for us to be on guard. This horseman receives power to “take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other.”
Peace, in this story,
includes much more than just the absence of war. The Bible’s picture of peace
is about the harmony in creation revealed in Genesis 1:31: “God saw all that he
had made, and it was very good.”
The clearest example of
this peace is found in the life of Jesus, given for our sake. He is described
as the “Prince of Peace” (cf. Isaiah 9:6). And when he was born, a multitude of
angels from heaven gave glory to God and announced the coming of peace on
earth (cf. Luke 2:14).
In the picture of the
rider on a fiery red horse, however, this vision opens our eyes to the power of
evil in our midst, robbing creation of God’s peace (shalom). We are
especially warned to be on guard about this rider’s goal to create violence,
making people kill each other. This is the coming of great conflict, wars, and
rumors of wars, that will signal the end of the age.
While this seems to be
at odds with the mandate to be “peacemakers” we need to understand that there
can no peace as long as the devil still roams freely about the earth. We bring
peace today with the sharing of the Gospel. Then Jesus will bring peace with
the might of His word and the power of His will. It is a very sobering thought.
We all called to be ready!
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