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Running With The Horses, Part 2

In Part 1, we looked at God’s response to Jeremiah when He was discouraged about the wicked who prosper. In Jeremiah 12:5 God tells Jeremiah this: “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” We looked at Revelation 6:1-2, which is about the first horse which rides in the Seal Judgements. I suggest you read Part 1 to get a better understanding of Part 2. In Part 2 we are going to continue looking at these horses.

Revelation 6:3-4 tells us, “When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.” Going back to Cain and Abel murder has been with us in our lives. We have seen over history that people have engaged in war after war. In the last 100 years we have seen two world wars with the deaths of millions of people. Wars have broken out in almost every area of the planet. We have seen civil unrest and violent protests and even killings in our schools and in our workplaces. Our cities are like the battlefield. The local news is nothing but one shooting after another. John reveals to us that the second horse will ride and it will take away our peace. People today live in fear. They have cameras all over their property. They have their homes secured like Fort Knox. Our schools practice for active shooter situations.

In Matthew 10:34-39, Yeshua says this: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.”

So Yeshua is warning us of the horse that will ride to take away our peace. You see the end times are going to be a time when people will fall away from the truth. It will be a time of chaos and confusion, wickedness will abound. People who follow God will be hated even by their own family. Romans 1:28-32 tells us, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

Yeshua, after telling His disciples that He would be leaving them, saw that they were grieved, and He told them this in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The longer the red horse rides the worse we will see murders of all sorts, but the question is, are you an overcomer? Well, John tells us how we can overcome the world in 1 John 5:3-4, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

Let’s look back at what Yeshua told us in Matthew 10:38-39: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.”

Paul has great advice for us in Philippians 4:4-9: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Yeshua. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

You want to overcome the “red horse”? Trust the Lord, and as Isaiah 26:3 tells us, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.”