Bird's-eye view
In this passage, the Lamb of God, who alone is worthy, continues to open the seals of the scroll that represents God's sovereign decree for history. The opening of the second seal unleashes the second of the four famous horsemen. This is not a chaotic, arbitrary event, but a direct and controlled judgment sent by the enthroned Christ. Following the victorious rider on the white horse, who I take to be the Lord Jesus going forth to conquer through the gospel, comes this rider on a fiery red horse. His mission is explicit: to remove peace from the earth, causing men to slaughter one another. This is the judgment of war, of civil strife and bloodshed. Within the framework of this book, which is primarily concerned with the judgment on first-century, apostate Jerusalem, this rider represents the bloody civil wars and internal chaos that Josephus so vividly describes as tearing Judea apart in the years leading up to the final Roman siege in A.D. 70. Christ is executing His covenant lawsuit against the harlot city, and the red horse is one of the instruments of that righteous vengeance.
The great sword given to the rider signifies that his authority to wreak this havoc is delegated. It is "given to him." This is not random violence; it is decreed violence. The Lamb is in charge of the chaos. The color red, the removal of peace, the mutual slaughter, and the great sword all point to a singular reality: God judges rebellious nations by turning them inward on themselves. Before the external enemy (Rome) finished the job, the Jewish factions had already bathed the land in blood. This is a terrifying, but just, outworking of God's covenant wrath.
Outline
- 1. The Lamb's Judgment Unleashed (Rev 6:3-4)
- a. The Second Seal Opened (Rev 6:3a)
- b. The Second Living Creature's Summons (Rev 6:3b)
- c. The Emergence of the Red Horse (Rev 6:4a)
- d. The Rider's Commission: To Remove Peace (Rev 6:4b)
- e. The Rider's Instrument: A Great Sword (Rev 6:4c)
Context In Revelation
This passage is part of the first great series of judgments in Revelation, the seven seals (Rev 6:1-8:1). The seals are opened by the Lamb, who was shown to be worthy in the previous chapter (Rev 5). This is crucial; the judgments that follow are not unfortunate cosmic accidents but are the deliberate actions of the crucified and risen King, Jesus Christ. The first four seals unleash the four horsemen. I take the first horseman, on the white horse (6:1-2), to be Christ Himself, going forth to conquer through the gospel and to judge His enemies. The next three horsemen, therefore, are the calamitous judgments that follow in the wake of His conquest, specifically directed at the land of Israel ("the earth") in the years leading up to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. The red horse of war is followed by the black horse of famine (6:5-6) and the pale horse of death and pestilence (6:7-8). This sequence of judgments, conquest, war, famine, death, is a standard Old Testament pattern of covenant curses (e.g., Ezekiel 14:21; Leviticus 26). John is seeing a vision of the covenant being enforced against those who broke it by crucifying its Lord.
Key Issues
- The Identity of the Four Horsemen
- The Meaning of "the Earth"
- The Preterist Fulfillment of the Seals
- The Sovereignty of Christ in Judgment
- The Connection to Old Testament Covenant Curses
- The Historical Reality of Civil War in First-Century Judea
The Color of Judgment
When we read a book like Revelation, we must be disciplined interpreters. The symbols are not a Rorschach test for us to project our anxieties about current events onto. The symbols are rooted in the rich soil of the Old Testament. The first horse was white, the color of victory and righteousness. This second horse is red, purros, a fiery red. This is the color of blood, of violence, of war. It is the color of Esau, who was called Edom (Red), and who lived by the sword (Gen 25:25, 30; 27:40). It is the color of the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is a murderer from the beginning (Rev 12:3; John 8:44). When Christ, the rider on the white horse, goes forth, the world must divide. For those who receive Him, there is peace. For those who reject Him, there is the sword. And for the generation that crucified the Lord of Glory, the judgment was particularly intense. The peace they had, a tenuous peace under Roman occupation, was about to be stripped away, not just by the Romans from without, but by a divinely-sent spirit of murderous factionalism from within. The red horse represents God's judgment of civil war.
Verse by Verse Commentary
3 And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.”
The action continues to be driven by the Lamb. It is "He," Jesus, who opens the seal. The judgments do not begin until the King gives the command. Upon the opening of the seal, the second of the four living creatures speaks. In chapter 4, we saw that these creatures were like a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle, likely representing the fullness of creation worshiping around the throne. Here, the second creature, the ox, a symbol of strength and sacrificial service, issues the summons. He says, "Come." As with the first seal, this is a command for the instrument of judgment to appear on the stage of history. It is a summons for the red horse and its rider to come forth and do their work. The whole affair is orderly, liturgical, and under the strict control of God's throne room.
4a And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sits on it, it was given to him to take peace from the earth...
In response to the summons, another horse appears. Its color is fiery red, signifying bloodshed. A rider is on the horse, and his authority is explicitly delegated. It was given to him. This is a crucial theological point. The rider is not an independent agent acting on his own initiative. He is a servant, an instrument of the one who opened the seal. His assigned task is "to take peace from the earth." The word for earth here, gē, should in this context be understood as "the land," meaning the land of Israel. This is the primary focus of the covenant lawsuit. Jesus had warned that He came not to bring peace on earth, but a sword (Matt 10:34). For those who rejected Him, the Prince of Peace, the result would be the removal of all peace. This happened with a vengeance in the years between A.D. 66 and 70, when various Jewish factions, Zealots, Sicarii, and others, turned on one another in a bloodbath of civil war that horrified even the pagan Romans.
4b ...and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
The result of taking peace away is spelled out: "that men would slay one another." This is not primarily about an external invasion, but about internal, fratricidal conflict. It is a picture of society collapsing into murderous anarchy. God's judgment often takes this form; He gives people over to the outworking of their own sinful hearts. When men reject the authority of God, they lose the ability to live at peace with one another. To accomplish this, the rider is given a "great sword." This is not the short Roman gladius, but a machaira megalē, a large sword or dagger, perhaps emphasizing the savage, personal nature of this butchery. The sword is a universal symbol of authority and the power of life and death. Here, it is the authority to execute judgment. This great sword was given to him by the Lamb, who is the true wielder of the sword that comes from His mouth (Rev 1:16). The chaos on earth is a direct result of a command from heaven.
Application
The first and most important application is to recognize the absolute sovereignty of Jesus Christ over all of human history, including its most violent and chaotic chapters. We are often tempted to think that war and civil strife are signs that God has lost control. Revelation teaches the exact opposite. The red horse does not ride out unless the Lamb unseals the scroll. The rider has no authority except that which is given to him from above. This should be a profound comfort to the believer. Our King reigns, even when it looks like all hell is breaking loose. He is working all things, including the wrath of man, to praise Him and to accomplish His purposes.
Secondly, this passage is a stark warning against covenant unfaithfulness. The judgment of the red horse fell upon the generation that had the greatest light and rejected it. They killed the prophets and ultimately crucified the Son of God. The result was that God removed their peace and gave them over to slaughtering one another. We must never presume upon the grace of God. Nations that have been blessed with the gospel have a greater responsibility, and their judgment will be more severe if they turn away. When a society rejects the Prince of Peace, it should not be surprised when it is visited by the rider on the red horse.
Finally, we must see that the only true and lasting peace is found in the gospel of the rider on the white horse. The world seeks peace through treaties, politics, and human effort, but there can be no peace between men until there is peace with God. The blood of Christ is the only thing that can wash a man's heart clean from the murderous rage that leads to the slaying of his brother. He made peace through the blood of His cross. If we reject that peace, the only alternative is the great sword of judgment. Therefore, let us hear the summons of the Spirit and the Bride to "Come," not to the red horse of war, but to the Lamb who was slain, and find our peace in Him.