The second horseman of the Apocalypse, represented by the red horse and its rider, embodies the scourge of bloody conflict, a manmade calamity among the many disasters foretold for the end times. The fiery red color of the horse, derived from the Greek word purros, suggests the intense, flickering hues of a flame, symbolizing heat and ferocity like an uncontrollable wildfire. This color, distinct from the ordinary term for red, conveys a deeper sense of violence and destruction. The horseman wields a great sword, translated from the Greek máchaira megálee, which is not the typical sword of war but a short sword or dagger, often used for sacrifice or slaughter. The term "great" indicates either a larger or more effective weapon, making it a highly potent instrument of death. This sword symbolizes relentless aggression and horrific conflict, intensifying the terror of unremitting war. God intends this fearsome figure of the red horseman to instill terror in mankind, urging repentance from enmity to escape the destruction and death it brings. As a symbol of uncontrolled violence, the red rider stands as a stark warning of the bloodshed that will mark the bloodiest period in human history, as predicted in the Scriptures.

The second seal of Revelation 6:3-4 is war. The rider on the fiery red horse is granted to take peace from the earth, so that people kill one another, and he is given a great sword. Christ speaks of this same seal when He says, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars... For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom... All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:6-8). The seal's fulfillment is visible in the present level of violence. A University of Hamburg study counted 52 wars in 1992, the highest level of military conflict since World War II. The average number of wars per decade has climbed steadily since 1945: 12 in the 1950s, 22 in the 1960s, 32 in the 1970s, 40 in the 1980s, and more than 50 projected for the 1990s. This increase has come even as the Cold War ended and UN peacekeeping deployments grew. In 1992 only two wars ended while four new ones began, and further conflicts could erupt at any time in the Balkans and the former Soviet states. The New World Order is a violent place, not a peaceful one. These headlines are plain signs of Christ's coming, evidence that God's great plan is on the move, and they call believers to awake from sleep because salvation is nearer (Romans 13:11).