Revelation 6:4 - Exposition

And there went out another horse that was red. There is a very general agreement that the red horse signifies war— slaughter by the sword which was given to "him that sat thereon." Slight variations of the application occur. Wordsworth, following the more ancient expositors, thinks that only that aspect of war is intended which consists in the persecution of the saints; while Alford and others would not restrict the meaning, but consider that war in general is meant, relying upon the following words, "that they should kill one another," and quoting our Lord's prophecy, "I came not to send peace, but a sword" ( Matthew 10:34 ). Both views may be correct. Though there had never been persecution, war would be one of the great afflictions from which Christians in various ages suffer, and in which they need consolation; but we may well believe that St. John, in writing to Christians who were themselves being grievously persecuted, should refer especially to the slaughter of the saints, as one of the trials inflicted upon them with God's knowledge and permission. The Revelation, intended as a support to those to whom St. John wrote, and applying directly and specially to their situation, has vet a wider application, and foreshadows the fate of each individual Christian and the Church in general throughout all ages. And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth; and to him that sat upon him it was given him to take peace out of the earth. The pronoun is redundant; it has no special signification (see Revelation 2:26 ; Revelation 3:12 , Revelation 3:21 ). "The peace" ( τὴν εἰρήνην ); that is, peace in general, not the peace left by the first appearance. "Power" (cf. Revelation 4:11 ; Revelation 1:6 ; Revelation 7:12 ). A few authorities omit ἐκ , "out." "The earth" has been erroneously restricted to the Roman empire or to Judaea. The whole world is meant. Here is a repetition of our Lord's prophecy, "I came not to send peace, but a sword" ( Matthew 10:34 ). The sword directed against the saints of God is, by God's providence, converted into an instrument for the refining and conversion of his kingdom. As in the death of Christ, Satan was foiled with his own weapon, and by death came life, so what is intended by the enemies of God to be the extermination of Christianity is the means of increasing and strengthening his Church. And that they should kill one another; that is, that among the inhabitants of the earth some should kill others. As explained above, this includes both the slaughter of the saints and war in general. The verb σφάττω , "to sacrifice," is peculiar to St. John, being found only in the Revelation and in 1 John 3:12 . The use of this verb seems to imply that the vision more immediately contemplates the death of the martyrs. And there was given unto him a great sword. Here, again, μάχαιρα , though used also in a wider sense, signifies strictly the sacrificial knife, the natural instrument of the slaughter mentioned. It is the LXX . word used in Genesis 22:6 , Genesis 22:10 , in the account of the sacrifice of Isaac, where it is also closely connected with σφάττω , "to sacrifice," the verb used in this passage.