The Second Seal
Rule by the Sword
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the
second beast say, Come and see. 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. Re 6:4
The white horse passed from view and with it passed
the golden age of the Roman empire. Now appears
a red horse. Its arrival marked the end of Pax
Romana and the beginning of an
unparalleled era of
bloodshed and violence.
Commodus
An Unworthy Successor to Aurelius
The good effect of adopting capable
successors was
the key to the prosperity and tranquility of the golden
age. But, Marcus Aurelius abandoned that wise
tradition and gave the throne to his dissolute
son.
Commodus was a monster. He was a base, cruel,
lecherous and foul mouthed youth. He grew to be
a megalomaniac who believed he was the
reincarnation of the god
Hercules!
Having little interest in administering the empire he
devoted himself to gladiator sports and his harem
of 300 women.
Rule of Law Abandoned
Military Siezes Control
After an attempt on his life, he withdrew and gave the
control of the empire to the Praetorian guard. This
dangerous precedent would
nearly
prove fatal to the empire.
At the peak of his vice and infamy,
Commodus was
murdered by his own
domestics and replaced by the honorable Pertinax.
But Pertinax's hasty reforms
enraged the Praetorian guard. They quickly murdered
him.
Now the military seized control.
A Great Sword
A Familiar Symbol in John's Day
"The sword was a well recognized and distinctive
badge among Romans, of the military
profession: while its strange and unnaturally large
size in the Apocalyptic
figure indicated further an undue authority and
unnatural use made of it." E.B. Elliot (Horae)
Before Commodus, the Senate's high authority was
recognized in the choice of Emperors and the civil and
military powers were separated. However, with an
absentee Emperor the military dangerously grew in
power.
This transition fits the prophetic symbol of putting
the "great sword" of the military in the hand of the rider
on the red horse.