The war to end all wars is coming, but it will follow a time of global conflict and turmoil unlike anything ever seen (Matthew 24:21
). That age-ending period will be so bloody, so dangerous and deadly, that Jesus Christ warned us that "if that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive , but for the sake of God's chosen it will be cut short" (verse 22, Revised English Bible, emphasis added throughout).
In the last issue we saw that the first of the four horsemen of Revelation 6 represents a massive Satan-inspired religious deception. The ride of the second of the four horsemen unleashes the malignant forces of evil and removes the last vestiges of peace from the earth. However, Jesus Christ cuts short this horseman's ride, preventing human extinction, with His appearance and the establishment of His world-ruling Kingdom.
Notice what the apostle John saw with the breaking of the second seal: "When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, 'Come and see.' 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" (Revelation 6:3-4
).
This vision corresponds with Christ's prophecy of the end time recorded in Matthew 24: "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (verses 6-7).
The record of history shows a pattern of the red horse of war often following the white horse of false religion. An example is the Thirty Years War in Europe during the mid-17th century. Following the Protestant Reformation, the resultant shift in power among European states led to 30 years of carnage from 1618 to 1648.
Religion, the newly emerged Protestant versus Roman Catholic theology, was the ideology that fueled the winds of war. It led to strange alliances: Catholic France aligned with Protestant Holland to offset the powerful Catholic Hapsburg dynasty. This resulted in prolonging the conflict. By the time "peace" (a euphemism for balance of power) was restored in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia, 8 million people had lost their lives—a staggering toll, especially at that time.
What can we expect to see as this red horse of war rides across the landscape in the last days, unleashing the fury of nations on the world?
A look at the history of war will give us a clue. Let's first look at what the Bible reveals about the roots of war.
The beginning of war
Those who understand man's nature know he is on a course toward destruction —and has been since the beginning.
In Genesis 4 we read of the first human "war," the conflict between Cain and Abel, the sons of the first human beings, Adam and Eve. When God refused to accept the offering of Cain, reading his sinful heart, Cain's self-interest was threatened. He did not control his anger and aggression and subsequently "rose up against Abel his brother and killed him" (Genesis 4:8
).
Expelled from the family environs, Cain went to the land of Nod on the east of Eden (verse 16). Some biblical scholars say he built on the ancient site of Jericho.
Regardless of the accuracy of those speculations, excavations at the earliest levels of this site, one of the oldest inhabited settlements on earth, reveal a fortress city with walls 12 feet high and 6 1⁄2 feet thick.
The remains of a large tower, 30 feet across at the base and 30 feet high, tell a story of people living in a fortress city, protecting what they had—probably food—from those who would take it by force. Clearly Jericho was a site of conflict long before Joshua and the Israelites encircled its walls.
In Genesis 10, God provides a narrative of the sons of Noah and the cities that grew from their dynasties. One descendant, Nimrod, and the city he built, Babel, are inserted into the story.
Nimrod was "a mighty hunter before the LORD" (verse 9). The "before" here denotes "in the face of" or "against,"indicating an adversarial relationship with God's purpose and plan. This is made clearer in the story of the Tower of Babel in chapter 11. The cities associated with Nimrod war back and forth for centuries. Babylon becomes a city, then an empire.
Eventually it becomes the symbol of the system that opposes God, His people and His plan throughout the Bible story. It is that city, described in Revelation 17:5
as a "MYSTERY ... THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," which in the time of the end provides the cultural and religious inspiration to a political-religious empire called "the beast."
The roots of this end-time system reach back to the pattern started by Nimrod at Babel, thus bridging the intervening centuries. This system will form the backdrop for the final conflict of the age brought on by the red horse of war.
No war has brought peace. Wars waged in the name of religion have not achieved religious harmony. No war waged for national interest has brought lasting security for any city, state or empire. The peace sought by man is all too often a peace that only suits nationalistic interests and lays the groundwork for subsequent conflict.
