The Red Horse Rider, of War and Violence
Violence is inflicted on the Word of God creating conflict of opinions among the members of the body of Christ, effecting divisions and disunity. The first and best state of the understanding of the Word (the white horse) is followed by one which indicates the commencement of declension.
And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And 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: and there was given unto him a great sword. (Rev 6:3-4)
As white is the emblem of truth, red is the emblem of love. But there are two kinds of love, natural and spiritual; and when natural love is separated from spiritual, if is evil. Red is here to be understood as the type of evil love, for his rider takes away peace, and causes discord and division. The going out of this red horse describes what may be regarded as the first state of the church’s decline, when the passions of men began to be inflamed with a love less pure than charity, with the love of their own opinions rather than the love of truth. It is known that early in the Christian Church, soon after the death of the apostles, this first sign of corruption and division began to appear. Not error, but evil, is the first active power in the decline of every church, as of every man.
Evil begets error, because it creates an inclination to believe what is favorable to itself. But that is another stage in the church’s decline. The first effect of the ascendancy of evil is to take peace from the earth, and the second is to cause men to kill one another. Peace results from the harmony and union of goodness and truth, or of charity and faith, or what amounts to the same, of the will and understanding. This union in the mind gives peace, for when these two active powers and principles are in unity, the mind is satisfied and tranquil. When these disagree, there is no longer peace.
This disagreement, conflict of agreement, first begun in the minds of the members individually, extends to the whole body; for minds that are not in harmony in themselves cannot be in harmony with one another. They take peace from the earth…from the church, of which the earth is the symbol. In reference to the individual, the earth is the natural mind, and this is deprived of peace when it is not controlled by the spiritual. It then rises in rebellion against the authority of the inner man, and there is conflict between them. When peace is gone, they begin to kill one another. This indeed is an ultimate result of discord in the church, as the history of the Christian Church too abundantly testifies. But the deadly discord here predicted is that which takes place between principles rather than persons. This strife is between evil and good, and between error and truth; and the destruction is that of good by evil and of truth by error. This is the natural result of the ascendancy of evil. This part of the apocalyptic prophecy answers to that in Matthew (24:6, 7), “Ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars. Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. These are the beginning of sorrows.”
The warlike character of the rider of the red horse is indicated by his receiving a great sword. In his case was most truly fulfilled the Lords declaration, They that take the sword shall perish with the sword. The sword, the emblem of truth in the hand of the Lord and of those who combat in His Spirit and in His Name, is the emblem of error when wielded by the will of man, and in his own name. Even the truth, when employed by the church as an instrument of vindictive or sectarian oppression, is a most deadly weapon; for it is destructive of charity, and thus of the life of religion. Such wars truly the beginning of sorrows; they take away peace from the earth. They even make charity and faith kill another. They violate charity in exalting faith, and falsify faith in subordinating charity. The death of charity rather than of faith is the stage in the progress of religious destruction here treated of. The sword is a great sword; and great is spiritually expressive of the evil which the error contains; for great is expressive of good, or, as in the present case, of the perversion of good, which is evil.
When charity is sacrificed in defense of faith, the faith lacks the warm glow of the love that invigorates principles of life in Christ. The sword of opinions is destructive to that life. Now there abideth faith, hope and charity, these three, the greatest of these is charity. Charity need not perish in defense of faith, however. The divine understanding of Truth, the White Horse, gives harmony and balance to the Word of God from divine love of Truth. This horse’s rider conquerors still.
Soon, I hope to add a commentary that I wrote on I Cor. 13, in regards to charity.
Submitted with Love,
Brother Strange
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