THE SECOND SEAL

Revelation Chapter 6

VERSE 3 “When He (the Lord) opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.”

I HEARD THE SECOND LIVING CREATURE:

The four living ones or creatures mentioned here in the first four seals represent the four attributes of God, as are numbered in Rev 4:7:

1. LION (Power)
2. CALF (Justice)
3. MAN (Love)
4. EAGLE (Wisdom)

The opinions of brethren differ on the first two. It seems most convincing, however, that the Calf should represent justice since it was the animal that satisfied justice in the tabernacle, and that the lion should represent power even as Jesus and Satan are both represented by lions and are the two powerful antagonists of the Bible.

Thus, in reference to the first seal:

ONE of the four living ones, THE LION (power) says with A VOICE OF THUNDER …

Thunder represents controversy from preceding flashes of light (truths). The great bursts of light which Jesus brought on the scene during the opening stage of the Church caused all kinds of controversy, and the POWER of the truth to divide and to edify became immediately evident.

SAYING, “COME AND SEE”:

“COME”: —the words, “and see,” which follow here in Verse 3 as well as in Verses 1, 5, 7 do not find support in the oldest MSS; however, from what follows in the context, it is evident that “Come and see,” is not necessarily an improper or incorrect thought.

In each of the first four Seals, the Living one (one of God’s Attributes) is inviting us to inspect the results of the opened Seal. It seems VERY LIKELY that all Seven Seals refer to conditions near the END of the period rather than in the beginning. Therefore, the invitation to COME (and see) seems to be an invitation to look back in history at what happened as the result of the period once the angel to the church at the time had spread his message or sounded his Trumpet. Experiences are understood when they are over, not when they are being experienced.

The second living creature here in Verse 3 is the “CALF” representing JUSTICE which, during this period, would have been greatly offended by Christian’s “killing one another”.

VERSE 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.”

ANOTHER HORSE, FIERY RED, WENT OUT:

Notice the difference from the first Seal. The white horse didn’t GO OUT. The Greek word APOSTASY means to go out from. (Not that this word is in the text itself, but that it is brought to mind by this red horse’s GOING OUT.) The Smyrna period was, indeed, of all the periods, the period of apostasy. The horse (doctrine) is RED –sinful doctrine – heresies.

AND IT WAS GRANTED TO THE ONE WHO SAT ON IT:

This is clearly a malefactor. The apostate Christians (“Jews” [here representative of professed Christians] who are not Jews [not true Christians], but in reality, tares, and of the Synagogue of Satan, Rev 2:9) were now able to control doctrine, able to distort it at will, because the Apostolic authorities were gone and the gift of discerning of spirits had died.

TO TAKE PEACE FROM THE EARTH:

This happened in more than one way. Within the Church the contentions for power created constant stress – something which was to last the remainder of the age. Outside the Church there was also peace being taken away. As paganism was threatened, there was “war” in heaven (Rev 12:7). The Roman “earth” (which for a long time had been famous for a kind of peace – the Pax Romana) was thrown into turmoil for two centuries by the struggles and persecutions occasioned by the rising new religion. The apostate element, more than the true saints, were much responsible for causing the troubles which drew the wrath of the empire.

AND THAT PEOPLE SHOULD KILL ONE ANOTHER:

The word Men often represent Christians. It is uncomfortably possible that this means that even consecrated saints were at war with one another. While the tare element is prominent and important, it is important to remember that many who had received the Lord and the Holy Spirit probably lost their lives (suffered second death) by giving in to apostate practices. Slaying one another here probably represents the “blasphemies” of Rev 2:9 – slanders. These culminated in “excommunications” which were popular among bishops.

AND THERE WAS GIVEN TO HIM A GREAT SWORD:

Even as the Apostolic writings were misused in the first Church (2 Pet. 3:16), the Bible, now completed, was a tool of terror in the hands of those without the spirit (the “tares”). Creeds did not yet exist as such. “Scriptural” arguments were constantly in use to beat fellow servants.
__________

Such is the horrible history of the Smyrna period as we look back at this encapsulation of events. This ugly period set the tone for many centuries to come. How interesting that in the message to the Church itself (Rev 2:8-11) is NO CONDEMNATION! This is so because it was not the true saints who were evil; it was the synagogue of Satan which was the adversary. This second Seal is condemnation enough for them.

We will take a look at the Second Trumpet in our next post.