3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come and see." 4 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. (Rev. 6:3-4)
Fiery red: speaks of worldwide bloodshed. The first seal occurs when the nations were at peace (1 Thes. 5:3). The second seal suddenly ends the brief time of world peace.
Great sword: speaks of violence both civil and military. The sword is great by killing great numbers with great severity and devastation using technology that has great strength. This sword that strikes the earth is the counterfeit of when Jesus strikes the earth with a sword (Rev. 19:15).
Jeremiah prophesied of the end-time sword on the nations in context to the second seal.
Take peace from the earth: people will kill one another first in civil unrest, then in oppression by the government (Rev. 13:15), then in international conflict leading to the greatest world war. The nations rejected God’s Lamb but at the age-to-come they will chose to follow the Beast.
Jesus will allow peace to be taken from the earth. This is contrary to what many believe about Him. Jesus will allow the sword to go forth in the second seal. When Jesus spoke Mt. 10:34, He knew He would one day release the second seal to remove the hindrance to true world peace.
Jesus the Lamb is the Prince of Peace who opens the second seal to remove peace from earth. This will cause confusion to believers who do not understand the Scripture concerning God’s end-time purposes. Jesus will use the sword of evil men to bring their hidden evil to the surface and also to remove evil. This will ultimately result in true and lasting peace coming to the earth.
In this hostile environment, all will choose how they will live before God. The Church will be tested and unbelievers will re-evaluate their belief systems and come to Jesus by the millions. Those who love darkness will go into deeper connection with demons.
The Antichrist shall honor the god of military power with gold and silver. His god will be war or military conquest. The god of fortresses is the combination of military and demonic power.
1. He will honor the god of military strength (god of fortresses) by spending unprecedented amounts of money on developing his military.
2. He shall advance the glory of a foreign god who is Satan by promoting leaders who have zeal for Satan. Satan t will help him overcome the strongest fortresses (opposing armies).
The Antichrist will overwhelm many nations (v. 40), overthrow them (v. 41), stretch out his hand against them (v. 42) and annihilate them (v. 42). He will attack Egypt (v. 42).
The Antichrist will have an army of unprecedented strength in terms of people and finances.
Granted: God sovereignly grants the release of this sword and then oversees the entire process.
Come and see: a voice called John to come near to God to see clearly (Rev. 6:1, 3, 5, 7). We receive the same 2-fold call to come near to see more clearly the events that are prophesied. The Church is to receive this command to go deep in our understanding that we may pray and make known its truths. It was a call to exert effort to understand the significance of these events.
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