The Second Woe -Armies of Cavalry- Conclusion

 Apparently, ths cavalry thunders forth under the guiding direction of the four angels.  What a fearsome spectacle!  Imagine your reaction if you were to be the target of such a cavalry charge!  Its very appearance would strike terror in your heart.  Did you notice, though, how similar this cavalry is to the locusts that preceded it?  The locusts were like horses;  in the cavalry there are horses.  Both, then,  are involved in theocratic warfare.  (Proverbs 21:31) The locusts had teeth like those of lions; the horses of the cavalry have heads like those of lions.  Both are therefor tied with the courageous Lion of the trie of Judah, Jesus Christ, who is their Leader, Commander, and Exemplar.  -REVELATION 5:5;  PROVERBS 28:1.

Both the locusts and the cavalry share in Jehovah's work of judgment.  The locusts emerged from smoke that portended woe and destructive fire for Christendom; from the mouths of the horses, there issued forth fire, smoke and sulfur.  The locusts had breastplates of iron, signifying  that their hearts were protected by unbending devotion to righteousness; the cavalary wear breasplates colored red, blue, and yellow, reflecting the fire, smoke and sulfur of the lethal judgment messages that gush from the mouths of the horses.  (Compare Genesis 19:24, 28; Luke 17:29, 30.)  The locusts had tails like scorpions for tormenting; the horses  have tails like serpents for killing!   It seems that what was started by the locusts is to be pursued by the cavalry with greater intensity to a completion. 

So, what does this cavalry symbolize?  Just as the anointed John class started the trumpetlike proclamation of Jehovah's judgment of divine vengeance against Christendom, with authority to 'sting and hurt,' so we would expect the same living group to be used in the 'killing,' that in making known that Christendom and its clergy are completely dead spiritually, cast off by Jehovah and ready for"the fiery furnace" of everlasting destruction.  Indeed, all of Babylon the Great must perish.  (Revelation 9:5, 10; 18:2, 8; Matthew 13:41-43)  Peliminary to her destruction, however, the John class uses "the sword of the spirit, that is God's Word," in exposing Christendom's dreamlike condition.   The four angels and the riders of the horses give direction to this figurative killing of "a third of the men."  (Ephesians 6:17; Revelation 9:15, 18)  This indicates proper organization and theocratic direction under the oversight of the Lord Jesus Christ as the awesome band of Kingdom proclaimers charges forth to the battle.

Next time: The Second Woe - Armies of Cavalry - Two Myriads of Myriads

From the jw.org pubications