Reign Of Terror
When the Lord threatened and brought vengeful judgment in the past upon the nation of Israel, with whom he had made covenant, the prophet bore this witness -
"The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" (Isa. 33:14)
Not only sinners and hypocrites within the holy community of Israel, or in the church, but sinners outside will also be gripped by fear caused by the "terrors" of the last days. The whole world will be controlled by fear arising from a total loss of civil peace, and the sad consequences of such loss. Not only the prophets of the old testament, but Jesus himself foretold of those days.
Universal Civil Strife
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." (Luke 21: 25-26)
A time of general mayhem. A time of violence which recalls the days before the first great world judgment of the flood, when all but the chosen few were destroyed. The Genesis record is -
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually...The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." (6: 5, 11-12)
The Lord comes with his "toxon," with his "instruments of death" and "arrows of victory and salvation." When he shoots those celestial arrows and the long anticipated vengeance begins, it will produce great fear and alarm among the inhabitants of the earth. This is because the world is at war with God in its heart, being a "rebel" to his rule and government. In the four horsemen of the Apocalypse we see how the Lord "comes with vengeance." (Isa. 35: 4; II Thess. 1:8; etc.)
Though history is from the standpoint of the purpose of God "linear," yet this does not negate the idea of "cycles" within that linear framework. We see the cycle of cataclysmic judgments in several instances in holy scripture. Thus we hear Christ saying "as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the day of the coming of the Son of man." In those cycles the Lord suffered the wickedness of man to increase till it reached a climax or zenith, and then God brought devastation. The world is now as it was before the judgment of the Deluge.
The Lord in the long ago warned of the time when "the sword of the LORD shall devour from one end of the land to the other end of the land; no flesh shall have peace." (Jeremiah 12:12) Such is the time that the whole world will experience at the time the Lord returns in vengeance, typified in the coming of the red horse and rider. It is also described by the prophet in this oracle: "For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace." (Jer. 30: 5) Such times have been experienced many times throughout history on a national level, affecting but one nation, or a few, but never on a global scale as will occur under the happenings of the red horse rider. One of those times was described by the prophet Zechariah: "For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour." (Zech. 8: 10)
Notice those important words "for I set all men every one against his neighbour." God did something in the psychology of these men to cause them to war with each other. God says "I set" or cause this. It is a judgment in execution. The God who gives peace can take it away, and he does take it away from those who fail to thank God for whatever peace they enjoy. How is peace lost and destroyed? One way is by the removing of divine restraints.
The Lord Gives & Takes Away
"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)
God is to be thanked for whatever peace is enjoyed on earth. Peace is his gift. He is "the God of peace" (Rom. 15: 33) because all peace, of whatever kind, is from him. Though man has lost, because of sin and alienation from God, his internal peace with God, yet he still enjoys much external peace while in that condition due to the mercy and compassion of God.
When Christ came the first time it was announced by angels a message of peace toward man and earth: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2: 14) But, at the second coming of Christ, the angelic message will be different. Rather than extending peace to men he will suffer it to be taken from them. He is the one who gives peace, when and to whom he pleases, and he is the one who takes away the peace given, and that is what we see in the coming of the rider of the red horse and the opening of the second seal of the scroll.
In the long ago the LORD said:
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." (Isa. 45: 7)
Just as the "light" and the "darkness" are opposites, so too is "peace" and "evil." Thus, evil in this case primarily signifies the absence of peace. We may thus say that peace is "the absence of conflict" and "conflict" is the absence of peace. The word "peace" like other words such as "life," is hard to define, being mostly defined by its negation or absence. What is "life"? It is not being dead. But, try to define it positively. It is difficult. So too with the word "peace." Under the time of the rider of the red horse the Lord will be "creating" darkness and the evil of no peace and safety. Antonyms for peace include disagreement, discord, disharmony, distress, conflict.
Loosening Of Providential Restraints
The coming of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse is a time when restraints previously in place in God's providence over the world are removed. It is a "loosening" of forces, from heaven, earth, and under the earth. Paul refers to this coming phenomenon when he speaks of "the one who restrains" the coming of the "man of sin," of those divine energies which "withhold" those days till the appointed time.
"And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back (or 'restrains') will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way." (II Thess. 2: 6-7 NIV)
I do not believe that the one restraining is the Holy Spirit, though it is a popular view. In the first instance above the words "what is holding" (in red) in neuter gender and may be translated as "it." In other words, "what it is that is holding." But, in the second instance above the words "the one who now holds" (in red) is masculine and so it is correct to say "he" or "the one who." But, it is not integral to us to know for sure what the precise entity is that is doing the restraining. Clearly it is God who is doing the restraining, though he often uses angels in such restraining work. So, the text basically says "until the one who is restraining stops restraining."
The Psalmist inspired wrote these words about divine restraints upon the world:
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." (Psa. 76: 10)
Surely the time of opening of the second seal, with its global violence and murder, will be a time when God is not "restraining" the wrath and doings of men and nations as he has done regularly since the fall of man.
Divine Letting Loose
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" (II Peter 3: 11-12)
The words "melt" and "dissolved" are from the Greek "lyō" and the KJV translates it in the following manner: loose (27x), break (5x), unloose (3x), destroy (2x), dissolve (2x), put off (1x), melt (1x), break up (1x), break down (1x).
From this it can be seen how the word "dissolved" is not the best translation, not being commonly used by the KJV, the most common word being "loose"; And, if one studies all the places where "lyō" is used, he will see that the word means to break things apart (often destroying them). It is the breaking of bonds and attachments.
The idea in "lyō" seems to me to be the opposite idea conveyed in the word "consist" as used by Paul concerning the importance of the Son of God to this world. Of him he said - "and by him all things consist." (Col. 1: 17) The word "consist" is from the Greek "synistēmi" and means "to put together," or to "unite parts into one whole." Everything in the physical and spiritual realms are "put" and "held together" by the power of the Son of God who is "upholding all things by the word of his power" (Heb. 1: 3), keeping things held in their place till he dissolves or loosens them. Dr. Gill in commentary on Col. 1: 17 said that if not for Christ's power in holding all things together "the whole frame of nature would burst asunder and break in pieces." So true indeed.
The word "lyō" is translated as "loose" in the Apocalypse in these verses:
"Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men." (9: 14-15)
What a "letting loose" that will be!
This same word is also used in the Apocalypse of the "loosing" of the seals and of the loosing of Satan after the Millenium.
Other loosings are to be seen in the Apocalypse though the word is not used. The idea is there all through the scenes of the Apocalypse.
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