Reading: Revelation 6:3-5

Enter the red horse. The text clearly tells us that this horse and rider is symbolic of war. It’s red and it’s bloody and it’s violent. He takes peace. Here’s how Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 24: You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. That is: don’t be afraid. This had to happen.

But. Here’s what Jesus is saying to John through the red horse: You and I (by nature) are born bent towards violence. If you have a toddler, you know that’s true. Like. We didn’t have to teach our kids that. Did you? I mean. I have never come home and shoved Laura to the ground and ripped an iPad from her hands and said, “It’s my turn.” But that happened at my house this week with two of my kids. So who taught them that? Their own wicked hearts. Ok? Or. I would say the rider of the red horse.

Because the rider of the red horse is still riding. He’s always riding. Sometimes he’s like a computer program, running in the background. Stirring up anger and rage in the hearts of men and women and I’m telling you this horse is trampling all over our culture right now. Isn’t he? Have you been on social media? We are a culture given over to rage and anger.

Maybe this is a better example: Have you driven a car? What do they call that in the news? Road—rage. Or. Have you all ever heard of these things called Rage Rooms? I just sent a text to some of my friends a while back because I stumbled on an article about it. Come to find out there’s one in Wichita. But. Basically you pay like 20 bucks and the kind folks at the room give you a bat and they have a bunch of stuff in there like old printers and copiers that you can just go to work on. And they play some loud crazy music and let you just bash it all to kingdom come. And. Listen. If we’re honest, part of us is like, “That sounds awesome.” I know! Some of you are thinking, “Can the church get one of those?” Not anymore. You should’ve been here when we were doing the demo. It was very therapeutic.

But. We’re a culture that have given ourselves over to rage as though it’s normative and I’m telling you the number of men and women that have uncontrollable anger (in our society) is out of control. I believe, it’s the spirit of the red horse and it’s a danger to our soul. So you need to diagnose, am I prone to anger? Am I prone to snapping? And shouting…and constantly being on edge…that’s not from God. It’s the red horse trying to trample on your peace.

With Gratitude,

pLJ