Revelation 6:3

Rev_6:3-4

Another horse that was red;… to take peace from the earth.

The cry of the world in selfishness

The red colour is the emblem of bloodshed, the destruction of life. It recalls the vision of Isaiah concerning the traveller from Edom, with dyed garments of Bozrah, or that later vision of St. John concerning the King of kings, who leads the armies of heaven, His vesture dipped in blood. 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. It is every man for himself--the spirit of selfishness. Let me draw for you a picture of yourself. You are a person with certain wants, natural and material--wants, that is to say, of those things which are needful for the support and well-being of your bodily life. You are a person with certain tastes, natural and intellectual, at least as necessary to the prosperity of your mind as food is to the prosperity of your body. You have also certain desires and aspirations which we may call natural and spiritual. Then, your life is surrounded by certain circumstances, which you may modify, but cannot possibly do away with. Amongst these circumstances are your fellow men and women. And these have wants and tastes and desires of their own; the wants may be identical with yours, in which case your neighbours possession of the things wanted may well interfere with your own possession of them. You are in each others way. Or your tastes and desires may be dissimilar, in which case you are liable to be irritated and outraged by contradiction. In any case you cannot go through life without having your path traversed every day by others, going their own way, regardless of you. Let us go further. You are supremely important to yourself, and you have been so from your childhood. See how a child thinks his own affairs the first, and at all moments thrusts upon your notice the thing which happens to be especially interesting to himself. And certainly in this we, grown men and women, cannot say that we have put away childish things. But this self-importance is a reasoning spirit. I am always present to myself, you say; I cannot get away from pain and discomfort and disappointment and the hundred ills that my flesh is heir to. I move through life, the centre of my own little world; it all concerns my happiness or misery; how, then, can I say that I am not supremely important to myself? I may stop at the requirements of my earthly life, or I may go further. I may be a religious sort of person. But is this realisation a cure for my selfishness? Alas, that one must answer, No! For the possible selfishness of the religious person is quite the strongest and most terrible form that selfishness assumes. Now, it is my own soul, my own eternal happiness, my own personal salvation. Look at your own life, at your own heart, and say, Is there nothing of this spirit in me? For, after all, this selfishness seems so natural. How can one help it, in the lower interests of the body--far, far less in the higher interests of the soul? How can one help it? The one thing to be sure of in this world of crossing interests is oneself. Surely St. Johns terrible vision is overdrawn. What has it to do with me, that blood-stained figure, with the great sword? Surely my harmless, natural, inevitable egotism does not look like that in heaven? But stay, and ask yourself, Why not? I am not alone in the world. A thousand million others are engaged in this strange dance of life, equally with me. Each one may be supreme unto himself. Each one has his own place; to him I am as he to me. And if this be so, what must result from it but one vast scene of conflict, world-wide and age-long? How shalt not peace be taken from the earth? How shall not men kill one another? How shall not the spirit of conflict, the dazzling horseman, with the bow and with the crown, go forth conquering and to conquer? It is the spirit of Jesus which is wanted here. And what is that? Go back to the thought of the great renunciation of the Son of God. Surely it is the everlasting condemnation of selfishness. Not the terrible vision of St. John, not the extremest picture of horror that mans mind can conceive, can ever delineate too fearfully the spirit which is set in such antagonism to the spirit of Jesus Christ. (A. H. Simms, M. A.)

The spirit of war

This vision of the blood-red horse corrects the idea which we might have entertained from the fact that the Prince of Peace had begun His reign. We should have supposed that the progress and triumphs of the gospel would at least have assured to the earth a deliverance from the miseries of war, but it is not so. Since the time of the first preaching of the gospel to the present moment, there have not been twenty years of continued peace amongst the nations and people with which, as we suppose, the various visions in this Book have to do. And this history of war is not occupied with the wars of Christians against heathen, but with the wars of professing Christians against one another. Before the Reformation, when all the Christians of Europe professed to belong to one Church, there was a constant state of warfare amongst them. Since then the state of war has been quite as continuous--not Protestants with Papists only, but Protestants among themselves. Thus in this country, on the murder of Charles I., an ultra-Protestant republic was established, and the very first thing it did was to go to war with the only Protestant republic then existing--the Dutch. In our own time also we have seen the most powerful republic in the world, a republic more Protestant or Evangelical than any other, engaged in a long and sanguinary civil war. So that we have before us this most remarkable fact, that for 1,800 years the Gospel of Christ and the Demon of War have ridden side by side. For the rider on the red horse does not himself war or fight. He is apparently engaged in stirring up strife in which he personally takes no part. He is no human tyrant or general, but, as it were, the embodiment of the Spirit of War, who has power given to him to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. (M. F. Sadler, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 6:3-4. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature — Which was like an ox, and had his station toward the west; say, Come and see — As the former had done when the first seal was opened; and there went out another horse that was red — Seeming to betoken great slaughter and desolation by approaching wars: and to him that sat thereon was given to take peace from the earth — In the year 75, Vespasian had dedicated a temple to Peace: but after a time we hear no more of peace; all is full of war and bloodshed. According to Bishop Newton, this second period commences with Trajan, who came from the west, being a Spaniard by birth, and was the first foreigner who was elevated to the imperial throne. In his reign, and that of his successor, Adrian, there were horrid wars and slaughters, and especially between the rebellious Jews and Romans. Dion relates, that the Jews about Cyrene slew of the Romans and Greeks two hundred and twenty thousand men, with the most shocking circumstances of barbarity. In Egypt also, and in Cyprus, they committed the like barbarities, and there perished two hundred and forty thousand men more. But the Jews were subdued in their turn by the other generals and Lucius, sent against them by Trajan. Eusebius, writing of the same time, says, that the Jews, inflamed, as it were, by some violent and seditious spirit, in the first conflict gained a victory over the Gentiles, who, flying to Alexandria, took and killed the Jews in the city. The emperor sent Marius Turbo against them, with great forces by sea and land, who, in many battles, slew many myriads of the Jews. The emperor also, suspecting that they might make the like commotions in Mesopotamia, ordered Lucius Quietus to expel them out of the province, who, marching against them, slew a very great multitude of them there. Orosius, treating of the same time, says, that the Jews, with an incredible commotion, made wild, as it were, with rage, rose at once in different parts of the earth. For throughout all Libya they waged the fiercest wars against the inhabitants, and the country was almost desolated. Egypt also, Cyrene, and Thebais they disturbed with cruel seditions. But in Alexandria they were overcome in battle. In Mesopotamia also war was made upon the rebellious Jews by the command of the emperor. So that many thousands of them were destroyed with vast slaughter. They utterly destroyed Salamis, a city of Cyprus, having first murdered all the inhabitants. These things were transacted in the reign of Trajan; and in the reign of Adrian was their great rebellion, under their false Messiah Barchochab, and their final dispersion, after fifty of their strongest castles, and nine hundred and eighty-five of their best towns had been demolished, and after five hundred and eighty thousand men had been slain by the sword, besides an infinite number who had perished by famine and sickness, and other casualties; with great loss and slaughter too of the Romans, insomuch that the emperor forbore the usual salutations in his letters to the senate. Here was another illustrious triumph of Christ over his enemies; and the Jews and the Romans, both the persecutors of the Christians, were remarkably made the dreadful executioners of divine vengeance upon one another. The great sword and red horse are expressive emblems of this slaughtering and bloody period, and the proclamation for slaughter is fitly made by a creature like an ox, that is destined for slaughter. This period continued during the reigns of Trajan and his successors, by blood or adoption, about ninety-five years.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:3-4 The red horse represents bloody violence on the earth. Although peace was what the Roman Empire promised (the pax Romana), widespread violence was the horrible reality. This rider represents slaughter, including civil upheavals and ethnic cleansing.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rev_6:3-4. When the Lamb[2034] opens the second seal, John is again commanded, and this time by the second of the beings, to come; it is therefore presupposed, that after the vision of the first seal had ended, and the first image of a horseman had vanished, he had again withdrawn, and taken his original place.[2035] The form proceeding from the book of fate after the opening of the second seal (ἐξῆλθεν, cf. Rev_6:2) is that of personified shedding of blood. This is so obviously indicated by the red color of the horse,[2036] whereby it was granted (ἘΔΌΘΗ, cf. Rev_3:21) to take peace away from the earth with the effect of a slaughtering of one another by the dwellers upon earth,[2037] and by the corresponding emblem of a great sword which was given (ἐδόθη, cf. Rev_6:2),[2038] that expositors are united concerning the essential significance of the vision.[2039] The more accurate determination of the intention of the threatening manifestation is given partly from the words ἐκ τῆς γῆς, and partly from the connection of the whole, decided already in the first sight of a seal. As ἐκ τῆς γῆς does not mean from the land of Judaea, and the places in which there were Jews,[2040] certainly the vision as a prophecy post eventum cannot refer to the Jewish war, and the rapine and strifes of factions which occurred during its continuance, especially in Jerusalem.[2041] Since, on the other hand, because of the connection of λαβ. τ. εἰρ. ἐκ τῆς γῆς and ἀλλήλους σφάξουσιν, only the κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς[2042] can be regarded as subject to ἀλλήλους σφάξ., who kill one another, those massacred cannot be Christians, i.e., the discourse cannot be in reference to the persecutions of Christians; for then also, in reference to the combination of the first four seal-visions, it is entirely arbitrary to assert that the last three horsemen occupy a hostile position towards the first.[2043] Incorrect, therefore, are all expositions which in the second seal-vision find the persecution of Christians; as well those specially expounding it,[2044] as those holding it more or less in general.[2045] On the contrary, as in Mat_24:7-8, wars in the world are regarded as the first presage of the parousia of Christ, the ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων, so there appears here the personification of the shedding of blood, which is to occur on earth in consequence of the Lords approach for the glorious and victorious end. Even sanguinary war serves the Lord at his coming. Believers, too, are of course alarmed by the πειρασμός which is thus proclaimed by the second seal-vision;[2046] but their Lord not only preserves them, but at the signs of his coming they are to be the more confident in their hope, since their redemption approaches.[2047]

[2034] Cf. Rev_6:1.

[2035] Cf., also, Rev_6:5; Rev_6:7. Ebrard.

[2036] Cf. 2Ki_3:22; LXX.: ὕδατα πυῤῥὰ ὡς αἷμα.

[2037] The ἳνα with the ind. fut., in the epexegetical clause καὶ ἱνα, κ.τ.λ., stands in combination with ἐδόθῃ αὐτῷ, just as the ἵνα after ποιήσω, Rev_3:9.

[2038] It is to be noted how excellently the significant instrument, the μάχαιρα, applies to the slaying which is announced (σφάξουσιν; cf. Rev_6:6).

[2039] Apart from individual, entirely untenable, arbitrary explanations, as in Alcasar.

[2040] Grot.

[2041] Intestine dissensions, robbers, assassins, insurrection of Theudas, etc., Wetst.; cf. Herder, Böhmer, also Eich., Heinr., etc.

[2042] Rev_3:10.

[2043] Against the victorious and conquering Church, a red horse goes forth, i.e., an unfavorable populace, bloody from their rider, the Devil (Beda).

[2044] e.g., N. de Lyra: The red horse is the Roman people; the rider is Nero.

[2045] e.g., Beda, Zeger, Calov.: The red horse, an unfavorable people, an assembly of the godless; the rider is the Devil. Cf. also Andr., Areth., Laun., Vitr., who regard the rider a personification of the Roman Empire, and suggest Decius and others; Stern, who, in the entire form of each personification, sees only the worldly power thirsting for the blood of Christians, etc.

[2046] Cf. Rev_3:10.

[2047] Hengstenb., Ebrard, also Beng., Ew., De Wette.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 6:3-4 . The second seal opened : A swordsman representing (red = martial colour) war and bloodshed, “is permitted to make men slay one another”. The allusion to the merciless weapon (Plut. de Iside , 11) of the sword as Rome’s national arm thus places the Parthian and Roman empires side by side ( τῆς γῆς generally, not Judaea in particular), but the vision of war is also connected directly with the two following visions of famine (Rev 6:5-6 ) and mortality (from pestilence, 7, 8). The seven punishments drawn up by rabbinic theology ( Pirke Aboth , Rev 6:11 f.) were: three kinds of famine, pestilence, noisome beasts, and captivity or exile.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The second sign joined with words of declaration (after the express calling of S. John as before) is that God being provoked unto wrath by the obstinacy and hardheartedness of the world not repenting for the former plague, as setting upon the same hand, will kindle the fire of debate amongst men, and will destroy the inhabitants of this world, one by the sword of another.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The next three seals give us a sad prospect of great and desolating judgments with which God punishes those who either refuse or abuse the everlasting gospel. Though some understand them of the persecutions that befell the church of Christ, and others of the destruction of the Jews, they rather seem more generally to represent God's terrible judgments, by which he avenges the quarrel of his covenant upon those who make light of it.

I. Upon opening the second seal, to which John was called to attend, another horse appears, of a different colour from the former, a red horse, Rev 6:4. This signifies the desolating judgment of war; he that sat upon this red horse had power to take peace from the earth, and that the inhabitants of the earth should kill one another. Who this was that sat upon the red horse, whether Christ himself, as Lord of hosts, or the instruments that he raised up to conduct the war, is not clear; but this is certain, 1. That those who will not submit to the bow of the gospel must expect to be cut in sunder by the sword of divine justice. 2. That Jesus Christ rules and commands, not only in the kingdom of grace, but of providence. And, 3. That the sword of war is a dreadful judgment; it takes away peace from the earth, one of the greatest blessings, and it puts men upon killing one another. Men, who should love one another and help one another, are, in a state of war, set upon killing one another.

II. Upon opening the third seal, which John was directed to observe, another horse appears, different from the former, a black horse, signifying famine, that terrible judgment; and he that sat on the horse had a pair of balances in his hand (Rev 6:5), signifying that men must now eat their bread by weight, as was threatened (Lev 26:26), They shall deliver your bread to you by weight. That which follows in Rev 6:6, of the voice that cried, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine, has made some expositors think this was not a vision of famine, but of plenty; but if we consider the quantity of their measure, and the value of their penny, at the time of this prophecy, the objection will be removed; their measure was but a single quart, and their penny was our sevenpence-halfpenny, and that is a large sum to give for a quart of wheat. However, it seems this famine, as all others, fell most severely upon the poor; whereas the oil and the wine, which were dainties of the rich, were not hurt; but if bread, the staff of life, be broken, dainties will not supply the place of it. Here observe, 1. When a people loathe their spiritual food, God may justly deprive them of their daily bread. 2. One judgment seldom comes alone; the judgment of war naturally draws after it that of famine; and those who will not humble themselves under one judgment must expect another and yet greater, for when God contends he will prevail. The famine of bread is a terrible judgment; but the famine of the word is more so, though careless sinners are not sensible of it.

III. Upon opening the fourth seal, which John is commanded to observe, there appears another horse, of a pale colour. Here observe, 1. The name of the rider - Death, the king of terrors; the pestilence, which is death in its empire, death reigning over a place or nation, death on horseback, marching about, and making fresh conquests every hour. 2. The attendants or followers of this king of terrors - hell, a state of eternal misery to all those who die in their sins; and, in times of such a general destruction, multitudes go down unprepared into the valley of destruction. It is an awful thought, and enough to make the whole world to tremble, that eternal damnation immediately follows upon the death of an impenitent sinner. Observe, (1.) There is a natural as well as judicial connection between one judgment and another: war is a wasting calamity, and draws scarcity and famine after it; and famine, not allowing men proper sustenance, and forcing them to take that which is unwholesome, often draws the pestilence after it. (2.) God's quiver is full of arrows; he is never at a loss for ways and means to punish a wicked people. (3.) In the book of God's counsels he has prepared judgments for scorners as well as mercy for returning sinners. (4.) In the book of the scriptures God has published threatenings against the wicked as well as promises to the righteous; and it is our duty to observe and believe the threatenings as well as the promises.

IV. After the opening of these seals of approaching judgments, and the distinct account of them, we have this general observation, that God gave power to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth, Rev 6:8. He gave them power, that is, those instruments of his anger, or those judgments themselves; he who holds the winds in his hand has all public calamities at his command, and they can only go when he sends them and no further than he permits. To the three great judgments of war, famine, and pestilence, is here added the beasts of the earth, another of God's sore judgments, mentioned Eze 14:21, and mentioned here the last, because, when a nation is depopulated by the sword, famine, and pestilence, the small remnant that continue in a waste and howling wilderness encourage the wild beasts to make head against them, and they become easy prey. Others, by the beasts of the field, understand brutish, cruel, savage men, who, having divested themselves of all humanity, delight to be the instruments of the destruction of others.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

and see--omitted in the three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, and Vulgate.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. The second beast] That which had the face of an ox.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3, 4) And when he had opened . . .—Better, And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living being, saying, Come. And there came forth another horse, red; and to him that sat on him was given to take peace from the earth, and that they (i.e., the inhabitants of the earth) shall kill one another, and there was given to him a great sword. This seal is the distinct and unmistakable declaration to the Church that they must look for wars, even after the Prince of Peace has come. The advent of the highest good does not work peace, but only because the hindrance is in man. Man’s resistance to good turns the gospel of peace into an occasion for the sword. So our Lord declares, “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” The reign of peace, the beating of swords into ploughshares, is not yet. The vision may help to fix the Christian position about war. It is to be expected; it is an evil, but often an inevitable evil. Those who take part in war are not condemned: those who occasion offences are. It is as much a mistake to condemn soldiering as a profession as it is to deny that Christianity aims at the suppression of war. She admits the soldier to be a soldier of Christ, even while she keeps before her the ideal age when nations shall learn war no more. We expect wars, even while we believe that the day will come when war will be reckoned as absurd as duelling is now. The vision says, “It must needs be that wars will come;” and war, even when roused by the passions of men, is a judgment of God, for God’s judgments are mostly formed out of man’s vices. The seal puts in pictorial form the warning of Christ that wars and rumours of wars would be heard of. How true the warning the after history shows—wars in the empire, wars among nations, controversies, and often fratricidal wars in the Church of Christ.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he had opened the second seal,.... Of the sealed book; that is, the Lamb, as before:

I heard the second beast say, come and see; this living creature was the ox, whose situation was on the west side of the throne, as the standard of Ephraim, on which was an ox, was on the west of the camp of Israel; no mention is made of the noise of thunder, as before, the voice of the ox being lower than that of the lion; and this perhaps may point out a decrease in the Gospel ministry; to fix on any particular person, as, with Grotius, the Evangelist Matthew, because he says, Mat 24:7, nation shall rise against nation, which carries in it some likeness to what is said at the opening of this seal; or, as with Brightman, Justin Martyr, whose second apology was not regarded by the emperor, is mere conjecture; the ministers of the Gospel are intended who lived under this seal, who, though they might not be strong and courageous like the lion, or their predecessors, yet were like the ox, laborious in preaching, and patient in suffering; and these are represented in this vision as inviting John to behold and observe the following hieroglyphic.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

Ver. 3. Come and see] John’s better attention is called for. How dull and drowsy are the best in perceiving and receiving heavenly mysteries! A sea coal fire, if not stirred up, will die of itself, so will our spark and spunk of light. Christ calls upon those that had come far to hear him, saying, "Let him that hath an ear hear," Mat 13:9; cf. Zec 4:1.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he had opened the second seal - So as to disclose another portion of the volume. See the notes at Rev 5:1.

I heard the second beast say - The second beast was like a calf or an ox. See the notes at Rev 4:7. It cannot be supposed that there is any special significancy in the fact that the second beast addressed the seer on the opening of the second seal, or that, so far as the symbol was concerned, there was any reason why this living. creature should approach on the opening of this seal rather than on either of the others. All that seems to be designed is, that as the living creatures are intended to be emblems of the providential government of God, it was proper to represent that government as concerned in the opening of each of these four seals, indicating important events among the nations.

Come and see - See the notes on Rev 6:1.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Opened the second seal, &c. portending wars and shedding of blood, and so he is said to have power to take away peace from the earth. (Witham) --- Another red horse. This red horse signifies the cruel persecutions, which the Roman emperors carried on against the Christian religion. For this end, it is said immediately after, one sat thereon, to take peace from the earth, and kill one another; for this purpose was a great sword given to him. (Andræas; Menochius; Grotius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The second seal; the second of those seven seals with which the book, mentioned Rev 5:1, was sealed.

The second beast; the beast like a calf, Rev 4:7.

Come and see; inviting John to attend.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And when he had opened the second seal; he opened (Revised Version). The tense is aorist. The circumstances described accompanied the act of opening, as in the case of the other seals. I heard the second beast say, Come and see; I heard the second living being say, Come. (On the four living beings as representing creation, see on Rev_4:6) For the omission of "and see," and the discussion of the question to whom the words are addressed, see above, on ver. 1. As there stated, some believe the second living being here specified to be the ox, which, on account of its sacrificial character invites the prophet to behold the result of the war which is personified by this vision. Wordsworth, interpreting the living beings to mean the Gospels, here sees a reference to St. Luke"s Gospel, which depicts the sufferings of Christ, and considers that the ox here summons St. John to witness the persecution of the martyrs.

Vers. 3-11. Scenes of suffering.

No sooner has the vision of the Conqueror passed before the eye of the seer, than a darkening series in slow procession bring him from the contemplation of the source of the Church"s comfort and hope to the scene of the Church"s conflict, the earth. Herein is depicted the afflictions through which the Church should pass. Well was it that an assurance had been given of final triumph. Always from conditions of sorrow the Church could look back upon the great and comforting promises of redemption and triumph. The second, third, fourth, and fifth seal represent the sad truth that, in the great history of redemption, great and grievous sorrows would befall the faithful. It is a re-echo of the Lord"s own words. "They shall deliver you up to councils; they shall scourge you," etc. Often has the little flock had to look back upon these words when torn by grievous wolves. Truly the kingdom of heaven is at times entered only through "much tribulation.

I THE SUFFERING OF THE CHURCH ARISES FROM THE EXCITED ENMITY OF THE WORLD, THE SPIRIT OF WHICH IS CONDEMNED BY "THE WORD OF GOD AND THE TESTIMONY" HELD BY THE FAITHFUL.

II THE SUFFERING OF THE CHURCH AT TIMES REACHES THE UTMOST DEGREE OF SEVERITY. "They were slain." Not only the earliest sufferers, but many also "their fellow-servants and their brethren." The Church in its conflict with the worldly power uses its own weapons of truth and righteousness; but the weapons in the hands of the enemies of the truth are carnal. It is the long story of bitter, painful, cruel, ungodly persecution.

III THE SUFFERING OF THE CHURCH FROM THE EXCITED ENMITY OF THE WORLD MAKES ITS GREAT APPEAL TO THE LORD OF THE PATIENTLY ENDURING BELIEVERS. "How long, O Master?

IV BUT THE CHURCH"S SUFFERING HAS ITS LIMIT DEFINITELY MARKED. It is "yet for a little time." It is apt forever; but until their fellow servants and their brethren had finished their course.

V THE SUFFERING OF THE CHURCH IS FINALLY REWARDED IN THE SPIRITUAL ELEVATION AND PURIFYING OF THEM THAT ENDURE. "There was given to each one a white robe.

VI THUS THE CHURCH IN ALL AGES IS ENCOURAGED PATIENTLY TO SUFFER IN FAITH AND HOPE THE CRUEL PERSECUTION OF A WICKED WORLDLY POWER. R.G.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature - Who looked toward the west. Saying, Come - At each seal it was necessary to turn toward that quarter of the world which it more immediately concerned.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

beast living creatures. (See Scofield "Eze 1:5").

Come and see Come! Omit "and see." So Rev 6:1; Rev 6:5; Rev 6:7.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The second seal opened did represent to St. John’s visionary view a red horse, of a bloody colour; denoting first the dreadful execution of God’s wrath upon the Jews, embroiling the land with wars, divisions, bloodshed, unpeaceable tumults, killing and ruining one another, to which purpose he apprehended that he saw a sword in his hand that rode upon this horse, signifying the great slaughter which would be committed by the Jews upon one another.

Others, secondly, by this red horse understand the bloody Roman emperors, Nero, Trajan, &c., and the persecution which the primitive church underwent in their days. Eusebius relates, that so fierce was their rage against the poor Christians, that a man might see cities full of dead bodies, old and young, men and women, cast out naked, without any reverence of persons, or regard to sex.

From hence we may learn, What little reason the Christian church has to think strange of the fiery trial, as if some strange things happened unto them; when as we see all the rage and cruelty, all the blood and violence, which the Christian church has fallen under in the several ages of it, have been from the beginning revealed and prophetically foretold.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3, 4. And there went out another horse that was red. The second living creature said, Come and see, and immediately the first vision is replaced by a second, or a startling character. There appears in the field of view a second horse, no longer white, but as red as blood. Upon the horse sat one with a great sword in his hand, to whom “was given power to take peace from the earth, and to make men that they should slay one another.” The horse is the symbol of war, but the changed color indicates that the conditions of war are entirely changed. It is no longer triumphant war in the dominions of their enemies, while within all is peace, but the land is drenched in blood. During the period of the first seal the fertile provinces of the Roman Empire never saw the face of a hostile soldier, unless borne as a captive from the distant frontiers, where the Roman generals waged triumphant wars in the countries of their enemies. All was peace within. But now a period of internal war is indicated. The “earth” contemplated by John was the Roman earth, or empire. From it peace shall be taken away. Nor is it to be destroyed by foreign invaders. “They are to kill one another.” In as plain language as symbolism can disclose, it is indicated that the next great feature of history is that the land shall be torn by civil war.

The Fulfillment. —The next period is marked in the history of man by the most prolonged and sanguinary civil commotion that history records. “Peace was taken from the earth” for ninety-two years. During this long period of nearly a century, the Roman Empire, that portion of the “earth” which was the seat of civilization and of the Christian religion, was constantly torn by bloody contests between rival competitors for power. The history of this epoch is epitomized by Sismondi in the following language: “With Commodus commenced the third and most calamitous period. It lasted ninety-two years, from 192 to 284. During that period thirty-two emperors, and twenty-seven pretenders alternately hurled each other from the throne by incessant civil warfare. Ninety-two years of almost incessant civil warfare taught the world on what a frail foundation the virtue of the Antonines had placed the felicity of the empire.”—Sismondi's Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. I., page 36. A full history of this dark and unhappy period is also given in the first volume of Gibbon. During the ninety-two years there were thirty-four emperors, besides nineteen pretenders, known as tyrants. Of these all but two died violent deaths. What could more strikingly represent such a period of civil contention, of incessant warfare, of fratricidal bloodshed, than the red horse and its rider, “to whom was given a great sword, and the power to take away peace, that men should kill one another?” I suppose that no such prolonged and terrible period of civil warfare can be pointed out in the history of the world, and there is certainly a wonderful correspondence between the vision and the events of history.

THE THIRD SEAL.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

the second seal

"the next seal" or "seal number two" (See: Ordinal Numbers)

the second living creature

"the next living creature" or "living creature number two" (See: Ordinal Numbers)

came out—fiery red

This can the stated as a second sentence. AT: "came out. It was red like fire" or "came out. It was bright red"

To its rider was given permission

This can be stated with an active verb. AT: "God gave permission to its rider" or "Its rider received person" (See: Active or Passive)

This rider was given a huge sword

This can be stated with an active verb. AT: "This rider received a huge sword" or "God gave this rider a huge sword" (See: Active or Passive)

a huge sword

"a very large sword" or "a great sword"

translationWords

lamb

seal

creature

horse

peace

sword

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

3, 4. THE SECOND SEAL

3. ἔρχου. Text. Rec[234] adds καὶ βλέπε; א καὶ ἴδε; Latt. et vide.

[234] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And see. Omit.

Had opened [ηνοιξεν] . Rev., rendering the aorist mow literally, opened.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.