The second seal.
In Strong's it says a seal is "that by which anything is confirmed, proved, authenticated, as by a seal (a token or proof)." In Islam Muhammad is considered "the seal of the prophets."
I'm convinced that holy war is the message of the first and you can read about the first seal "holy war" here....and wish I could edit it...
http://www.christian...the-first-seal/
What I saying about "horsemen in pairs" is that I believe 1st and 2nd seal have passed and the 3rd and 4th seal are coming.
This is what I think about the second seal.
" And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."
I call this rider, "the gifted rider." The authenticator of this seal may be a political event as much as a war event. ie. the Bush/Hussein war.
In recognition of his greatness and false victory over Iran Saddam had erected crossed swords at the entrance of the celebrations park. He was also given a golden sword.
This rider is given two things. Power to take peace away from the earth, and a large sword.
Concerning Saddam and "swords".
The bow is the most significant item of the white horse rider and reveals the most about the rider. The "sword" is the best symbolic indicator or identification mark of the rider of this red horse. Sword is also a much more common biblical term than the bow. The words "sword and swords" are used 444 times in the bible. The sword also has extensive literal and symbolic use in the koran and among Muslims.
There's a very compelling symbol of two swords crossed over the entrance of the festivities or celebrations park located west of Baghdad that Saddam erected celebrating his alleged victory over Iran in the mid eighties. What's interesting is that there are two hands of steel holding the swords that were casted on the basis of a mould taken of Saddams own hands at his command. You know the symbol, you see it quite often on the news.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Arch
Saddam Hussein also received a gold sword from Mohammad Amr Bin Yusuf and Abdul Rahman Ahmed from the United Arab Emirates. You may have also seen film footage of Saddam removing it, a large six foot sword, from its sheath. Who knows how many statues there are left of Saddam on horseback with him holding a sword. There is one near the procession park west of Baghdad that was built in the nineties. On the main road from Jordan going into Iraq, there again is Saddam on horseback wielding a sword. There are images of Saddam throughout Iraq. Should he re-emerge and unite a portion of the Arab/Islamic world and invade Israel, would it not be out the ordinary for him to put an image of himself in the temple mosque in Jerusalem, and become the abomination of desolation? This is the event that Christ told us would be the sign of "the abomination of desolation".
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/baghdad-monuments.htm
I believe that all four of the horsemen will be of Arab/Muslim origin and that Saddam could be the rider of the red horse. His return and authentication has it's day and it's not far away.
The red horse has commonly been refered to as the war horse.
The red in this case is "firery red" or a "horse of fire." The word is "purrhos." This can be symbolic of a few things. Many have said that this could be symbolic of bloodshed however there is no evidence of this in the Greek translation of the word. It is the same word used in Revelation 12:3 of the dragon, indicating the "cruelty" of the devil, and in this case, the cruelty of the rider (Hussein) and also his connection to the dragon!. It is concieveable that much blood would be spilled by the atrocities commited by this rider.
As we speak, nearly every place on earth where there is war, civil war, and persecution of Christians and Jews, beheadings, suicide bombings, honor killings, it is all commited by the hands of Muslims and by the sword of Allah. I have heard one report that in the Sudan alone, one million Christians were murdered by Muslims between 1998-1999. Thousands of Christian homes, churches, and villages were burned or destroyed. I'm confident that the bow, the sword, and terms like "conquering and to conquert" are indicators that the four horsemen are of Muslin and Arab origin. And many still are pointing the finger at Rome, the EU, the UN, or the Catholic church.
Some Greek translations of the word sword in this passage indicate an extremely large sword, creating some confusion among scholars as of it's interpretation. This seal along with the holy war white horse rider, (bin laden or Muhammad) have a long history of killing people for refusing to convert to their religion. Saddam had death squads and Islam's terror network are at work as we speak with the goal of world domination.
The power that is given him may indicate a few things. (post Dan. 11:36-39) Power may not only come from his own military might, but also from a higher power, a strange or foreign god. (Daniel 11) Is it possible that God will use this rider as an instrument of His wrath. God allows evil to bring prophecy to pass, not as the author of this evil, but by his foreknowlege of it. God knows what evil will accomplish, and therefore allows the evils of a man, an evil religion, and a false god, (Allah), to fulfill His prophecy. In strongs the term sword in this passage means, "judicial punishment." It is also interesting to note that the final 3 1/2 years of the completion of Jeremiah's 70 year captivity of the Jewish nation, and the final 3 1/2 years of the antichrist are both quoted as being done by the hands of "the king of Babylon." God has said that He will use this final captivity as His final judgment of the Jewish nation.
