Second Seal
Excerpt- Daniel and
the Revelation by Uriah Smith
Revelation 6-
Verse 3 And when He
had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 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.
The Second Seal.--
Perhaps the first
feature noticed in these symbols is the contrast in the color of the horses.
This doubtless has
special significance. It the whiteness of the first horse denoted the purity of
the gospel in the period which that symbol covers, the redness of the second
horse would signify that in this period that original purity began to be corrupted.
The mystery of
iniquity already worked in Paul's day, and the professed church of Christ was
so far corrupted by this time as to require this change in the color of the
symbol. Errors began to arise. Worldliness came in. The ecclesiastical power
sought the alliance of the secular. Troubles and commotions were the result.
Speaking of the
period of the Christian church from A.D. 100 to 311, the historian remarks:
"We now descend
from the primitive apostolic church to the Graeco-Roman; from the scene of
creation to the work of preservation; from the fountain of divine revelation to
the stream of human development; from the inspirations of the apostles and prophets
to the productions of enlightened but fallible teachers. The hand of God has
drawn a bold line of demarcation between the century of miracles and the
succeeding ages, to show, by the abrupt transition and the striking contrast,
the difference between the work of God and the work of man."
"The second
period, from the death of the apostle John to the end of the persecutions, or
to the accession of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, is the classic
age . . . of heathen persecution, and of Christian martyrdom and heroism. . . .
It furnishes a continuous commentary on the
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Saviour's words,
'Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.' "
"The
ante-Nicene age . . . is . . . the common root out of which both [Catholicism
and Protestantism] have sprung, Catholicism (Greek and Roman) first, and
Protestantism afterwards.
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."
The spirit of this
period perhaps reached its climax as we come to the days of Constantine, the
first so-called Christian emperor, whose conversion to Christianity in A.D. 323
brought about a compromise between the church and the Roman Empire.
The Edict of Milan
in A.D. 313, is said to have granted toleration to Christians and allowed
conversions to Christianity. Kenneth S. Latourette declares that the acts
immediately preceding and culminating in the Edict of Milan in 313 "still
remain the most significant of the many milestones in the road by which the
church and the state moved toward co-operation."
This modern scholar
of church history further declares:
"Christianity,
by bringing the church into existence, developed an institution which in part
was a rival of the state. It created a society within the empire which, so many
believed, threatened the very existence of the latter. The conflict was very
marked in the century or more before Constantine. . . . When Constantine made
his peace with the faith, however, it long looked as though the conflict had
been resolved by the control of the church by the state. Yet, even in the days
of the seeming subordination of the church to the government,
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ecclesiastics sought
to influence the policies of the latter."
This state of things
answers well to the declaration of the prophet that power was given to him that
sat on the horse "to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill
one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."
*******
Revelation
6:3,4 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.
The first seal was
opened and ONE of the beasts spoke to John about what was seen. When the second
seal was opened THE SECOND beast spoke to John and told him… 'Come and
see.' Just like the first beast to John. Only there was no sound of thunder this
time. When this seal, the second was
opened by our Savior, there was a vision of another horse and this horse was
red in color. And as mentioned above the
color change is a striking one. Power
was given to the one upon the horse. A power that could TAKE peace from the
earth. A power that would INCITE killing.
A power of a GREAT SWORD.
We know that
Christianity was corrupted very early on--
1Jn_2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as
ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jn_2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus
is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1Jn_4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of
antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is
it in the world.
2Jn_1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the
world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a
deceiver and an antichrist.
We know that Satan
is eager to counterfeit all genuine truth. As soon as truth is uttered, Satan
is right there to pervert it and he'll do so using all manner of deceptive
ways. Keeping the lies as close to the truth at possible he works his evil into
everything. The church of our Savior, the Christ followers that lived having
seen the Savior kept the truth, but quickly many began to allow lies to seep
in.
The murder of many
Christians happened, and this continued right on until the perverted truth took
hold and the politics mingled with religion. And then Satan began to use
another tactic.
We know these seals,
these seven seals in conjunction with the seven churches are depicting time
periods, they are prophetically doing this and when these were first written
none of these things had occurred!
History has unveiled
a lot of prophecy to us, and by the grace of God may we see the truth in all of
it!
All in the name of
our SAVIOR, Jesus Christ our Lord, now and forever!
Amen!
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