The Second Horseman

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 men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.

[Rev 6:3-4]

The key words to me are, "take peace from the earth", and "make men slay each other".

Then the immediate question is: what is peace?

Now it must be obvious that we do not know this peace as it was taken away from earth, even from long ago, certainly as early as when Cain murdered his brother Abel. On the other hand, we also know that Jesus before he died and resurrected said:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

[John 14:27]

Again what is this peace that Jesus gives?

To me the peace is this, namely the assurance that God is God, and even sin and death cannot destroy us, even as Jesus demonstrated God's victory over sin and death in his resurrection. Until Jesus there was no certainty that death is not the end, and thus the angst in Ecclesiastes.

But with the certainty and thus our assurance we have no or need not have any more fear of death and it ought not be something that man can exploit to "blackmail" us, ie to induce, compel or coerce us to do things solely to avoid the fear and threat of death.

And that is precisely what the red horseman did: to put upon man himself to use this fear - to make man slay one another - to further his goal of dominance on earth, ie as was introduced by the first horseman.

And this is what we see in the world from the very beginning. And this fear is the very reason armies are effective instruments in this world.

It is also this fear of death that makes us prostitute ourselves, as in compromising our being and selves, for example for the sake of earning money to continue our physical livelihood. And this prostitution is what the third horseman is about.

The First Horseman

I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

[Rev 6:1-2]

In various commentaries the rider on the white horse is interpreted as Christ himself. Yet in others he is the anti-Christ.

To me the rider is simple Man himself, but with a crown, representing dominion and authority. And where once the earth was part of the kingdom of God, it is now the kingdom of Man.

And Man is bent on bringing all of earth under his dominion by means of the force of arms as depicted in the bow in his hands.

And so Man usurps the authority of God on earth.

We see the rider on the white horse with a crown and a bow in all the powers, empires, kingdoms and governments in all the countries in the world from the past till today.

And where once people depends on God, now they depend on themselves. Where once people had faith, now they rely on their authority, wit, power, etc, to pursue their own goals, whatever these may be, even if they be meaningless and futile.

And Man is indeed powerful, especially when they are of one heart and one mind, and is capable of many feats and achievements, from the Tower of Babel in the past to the space station today and more beyond.

But Man is not God.

And so this is the first attribute that is painted in the first horseman, namely that the world is faithless, believing in themselves and setting themselves to be God, ie idolatry.

(Next: The Second Horseman)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Part I)

A necessary element to understand Revelation is having a correct concept of time.

Revelation, the title, connotes an insight into the future. This is indeed true, but it need not suggest that the book was written in any chronological manner.

That one apparent event is mentioned after another, does not mean that event occurs after the latter, if such an event even occurred.

For just as we list the attributes of a thing - in the limitation of the human language - one attribute after another, we are obviously not saying that one attribute is before or after another in time. All attributes exist simultaneously at one time and for all times.

Another example is music.

For even as music is played one note at a time, the essence of the music, as in the drama and the emotions that are heard and felt, are not in time itself; and neither do we hear one note at a time. But we hear music.

So then time can merely be a vehicle for the communication of something eternal and timeless.

And also perhaps the appearance of the horsemen at each opening of the seals need not be chronological events, occurring one after another, but rather are like attributes of a thing, or the notes of a music, as the means to paint a picture.

And so what is this picture painted by the horsemen? What is the essential whole that our imaginations are to see, even as our ears hear music and not individual notes?

That will be answered next.

What We Know

We know that we know some things.

We also know that we don't know other things.

And we also know that we know only a part - a very small part - of all that is known to humankind, in all the world, for all times.

And we may not know - but we can bet - that there is no one who knows all that is known, even if all known things are written in wikipedia.

But we may know something that the whole wide world don't.

Yes, the probability is very very small, ie very improbable, but it is still very possible, ie not impossible, as that is one way how discoveries and inventions had happened, and will continue to happen.

More fundamentally there are things knowable and things unknowable.

We know these too, and we also know that of things knowable, all may not be known now, even if we know fundamentally that they are knowable.

An example of a thing that is a known unknowable, is the exact position and exact momentum of a particle at any point in time, namely the Heisenberg Principle. This unknowability is a fundamental one in that it is beyond our reasoning and perception, for all efforts, for all time. And of course many people don't know this uncertainty principle, not that it matters to them anyway.

Another known unknowable thing is some aspects of history for which no trace whatsoever survived over time. What is knowable is only whatever perceptible to humans.

And we also know the future is unknowable.

Of the things known to be knowable - or so we think - an example could be all the proteins that the human chromosomes can generate.

Of course there are always things that is unknowable now if it is knowable or not, for example, the question, are we alone in the Universe.

And last, and most intriguingly, is the possibility that a person can know a thing that is unknowable.

How can it be so?

Things knowable are those accessible to our knowledge by means of reason and perception. But certainly there are things inaccessible by mere reason and perception. And so are there other ways of knowing apart from these?

I think there are.

PS: We can summarise all these into a cube with each axis having two values, namely, (Know, Don't Know), (Known, Unknown), and (Knowable, Unknowable).