The second seal consists of a red horse and its rider, signifying the spreading of war. Revelation 6:3-4 says, "And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold, another, a red horse went forth; and to him who sits on it, to him it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him." "Red" here signifies the shedding of blood. The red horse is a symbol of the raging of war, which is altogether a matter of shedding blood.
A great sword signifies weapons for fighting.
"To take peace from the earth" signifies that war is continuing on the earth.
"That they should slay one another" signifies that people will fight one another. The Lord Jesus prophesied the same thing in Matthew 24. He told us that "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (v. 7). When war is going on, the gospel should be going on. These two horses run together.
The third seal, consisting of a black horse and its rider, signifies the spreading of famine. Revelation 6:5-6 says, "And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold, a black horse; and he who sits on it having a balance in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying: A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine." "Black" here indicating the dearth (Jer. 14:1-4), signifies the color of the visage of famished people (Lam. 4:8-9; 5:9-10). The black horse is a symbol of the spreading of famine, which causes a black visage.
A balance, a scale used to weigh precious things, is used here to weigh food, signifying the scarcity of food (Lev. 26:26; Ezek. 4:16).
A quart of wheat, good pay for a day's labor, and three quarts of barley, also good pay for a day's labor (Matt. 20:2), signifies the high price of food in its scarcity.