Day 116

“When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” ⁴ And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that people would kill one another; and a large sword was given to him.” Rev 6:3-4 NASB.  

The image of war is often glorified by those who have never known war firsthand. Those who have experienced war, on the other hand, tend to view it more realistically. The fear, the pain, the separation, the carnage, the loss of life; there is nothing pretty about it, except perhaps in the minds of arm-chair generals. In the words of General Robert E. Lee, “It is good that war is so terrible, or we might grow fond of it.” 

War is not far from any of us today. Even without the use of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism has found ways to multiply suffering and garner worldwide attention. 

It is hard to use the word “civilization” in the phrase “twentieth-century civilization.” That century witnessed the Nazi holocaust against the Jews, the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, the ethnic cleansing of Armenians and Greeks from Turkey, Croats, and Muslims from parts of Bosnia, and Serbs from Croatia. Less known is the “rape of Nanking,” where, after the city’s surrender, women were gang-raped and men were butchered for bayonet practice. And we do not have space to talk about the millions destroyed by Mao, Stalin, and two World Wars. War brings out the worst in people of every ethnic group. Notice the predominance of atheistic regimes. 

If John had received his visions in our time, the terrifying symbols might have been different, but the essential message would be largely the same. Humanity has not been evolving morally through the centuries; we have simply developed more efficient means of killing one another. In a world filled with terror and chaos, nothing is certain except that God is the one who is in ultimate control of history. The only solid ground we have to stand on is to trust in Him.