Catalan Red

The Catalan parliament has declared independence from Spain. The Spanish president has dissolved the Catalan parliament.

The response of the European powers is amusing. The British and French foreign ministers have declared that Spanish borders are sacrosanct, so the Catalan independence is illegal. This is hypocritical for two reasons. Politicians claim that a social contract with their people gives them authority to govern, but they will not allow people to withdraw from that contract. The people can give permission, but they cannot take it away. That is inconsistent.

Secondly, the UK and France were quite happy to peel Montenegro and Kosovo off Serbia. They have spent the last few years trying without success to tear Syria apart. Clearly, national borders are only sacrosanct when it suits great power interests. Spain is too close too home to allow independence movements because it might encourage similar movements in their own countries.

Red Horse
The Catalan independence movement is another manifestation of the Red Horse of Revelation 6. This horseman represents inter-tribal conflicts leading to the boundaries of nations being torn asunder.

Red is the colour of Esau and his descendants the Edomites. Esau was red when was born (Gen 25:25). The name Esau comes from a root meaning "to press or to squeeze". The word Edom, which is the name given to the nation which he founded, comes from a root word meaning "red".

The life of Esau and the experience of Edom is the key to understanding the rider on the fiery red horse. Their history is a story of conflict between two families or tribes who live together in the same land. It started with the conflict between Esau and Jacob. It continued when Edom obstructed Israel on its return from Egypt to the promised land (Num 20). The conflict between Israel and Edom continued until both nations were conquered by Babylon.

The rider on the red horse had a large sword with which to take peace from the earth and make men kill each other (Rev 6:4). Esau was told that he would live by the sword (Gen 27:40; Num 20:18). The advance of the rider on the fiery red horse represents an outbreak of inter-tribal warfare in many nations all over the world. Tribes which have lived together in an uneasy peace will go to war with each other. Old disputes which have been festering for hundreds of years will come to the surface. The new generation will turn weapons onto their neighbours to settle the old grievances

The tribal groups who go to war may often be quite closely related, as were Israel and Edom. They will often have intermingled through marriage. This will add to the bitterness of the struggles.

The nature of the spiritual forces released by the rider on the fiery red horse can be discovered by reading the story of Esau and Jacob. The same spiritual forces continued to work between Edom and Israel. The grievance will often be the result of deception (Gen 27:36). The dispute may relate to a disagreement over the inheritance of land (Gen 25:54). One tribe may have dominated the other, but they will become restless and cast off their yoke (Gen 27:40). They will have held onto a grudge from the past, consoling themselves for many years with the thought of killing the other They will make a vow to obtain revenge (Gen 27:41; Num 20:20). These situations will be characterised by:

• bitterness (Gen 27:34)
• revenge (Gen 27:41)
• fury (Gen 27:44)
• betrayal of former friends (1 Samuel 22)
• retaliation (Ez 25:12)
• concealment (Jer 49:10)
• lack of wisdom (Jer 48:7)
• rebellion against parents (Gen 28:9)
• grief (Gen 27:35)

In many cases the war will begin with a guerrilla army fighting against government forces (Gen 25:27). They will be so ruthless that they will inspire great terror (Jer 49:6). They will plunder with glee and with malice in their hearts (Ez 36:5), often shedding innocent blood (Joel 3:19). Amos said of Edom:

He pursued his brother with a sword,
stifling all compassion,
because his anger raged continually
and his fury flamed unchecked
(Amos 1:10).

This is a good description of what the fiery red colour of the red horse represents.

Zechariah indicates that each of the horsemen will ride in a different direction. However, he gives no direction for the red horse. This indicates that it will go all over the world. When the horseman is released this kind of warfare will spread all over the world.

I suspect that we are already seen the second horseman at work in many places in the world. We are probably seeing it at work in the Catalan area of Spain.

United States
We are currently seeing the Red Horseman at work in the United States. There it is not traditional tribes that are fighting, but political-social tribes at war with each other. Despite the tension, the country will not divide easily, because military-political power will use force to hold it together. They did this the last time there was a big division in the 1860s, so they will do it again if a similar conflict occurs again.