7 Seals of REVELATION SERIES: Second Seal

When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living
creature saying, Come and see. Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. 

Revelation 6:3, 4

The Red Horse represents the persecutions against the church by the pagan Roman emperors until Constantine’s Edict of Toleration ended the persecution in the year 313 AD. The red horse is parallel to the second church, Smyrna.

It is the natural transition from the apostolic age to the Nicene age, yet leaving behind many important truths of the former (especially the Pauline doctrines) which were to be derived and explored in future ages. We can trace in it the elementary forms of the Catholic creed, organization, and worship, and also the germs of nearly all the corruptions of Greek and Roman Christianity.

As mentioned before this is the period of the church of Smyrna. There is much ‘death language’ in the message to the church of Smyrna. 

In fact, the name means “bittersweet myrrh”, a substance used to embalm the dead. Jesus presented Himself to this church as “the one who was dead and is alive forevermore (Revelation 2:8). Jesus encouraged the members of Smyrna to be faithful unto death (Revelation 2:10) and promised that the faithful would not be hurt by the second death (Revelation 2:11). The ten days of Smyrna are the ten years of Diocletian’s persecution from 303-313 AD.

In the Bible the color red represents bloodshed When the sword takes away peace from the earth the result is war and bloodshed (Isaiah 63:2; Nahum 2:3; Revelation 17:1-6).
*The sword symbolizes the Bible:
Hebrews 4:12, 13: For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
*Repeatedly, the Bible emphasizes that the preaching of the gospel brings peace to those who accept its message:
Ephesians 6:14, 15: Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

--The big question at this point is this, if the sword here is the Bible, why does it take away peace from the earth. 

The answer is simple. 

When sinners heed the message of the Bible, it brings personal peace. However, when sinners reject its message they rise to take away the peace of those who proclaim it.

“The gospel is a message of peace. Christianity is a system that, received and obeyed, would spread peace [key word in the second seal], harmony, and happiness throughout the earth. The gospel presents to them principles of life that are wholly at variance with their habits and desires, and they rise in rebellion against it. They hate the purity [first seal] that reveals and condemns their sins, and they persecute and destroy those who would urge upon them its just and holy claims. It is in this sense—because the exalted truths it brings occasion hatred and strife—that the gospel is called a sword [key word in the second seal]." E.G.W.

*The conquests of the first horse led to persecution under the second.

 The devil, deeply concerned about the many defections from his army launched a deadly persecution against those who were conquering the subjects of his kingdom through the preaching of the gospel.

Drawn/taken from the book Daniel & Revelation by Uriah Smith---Study Guide by Stephen Bohr---Sermon by Walter Veith---Commentaries from Matthew Henry/Adam Clark---Revelation Made Clear