Revelation 6:2

THE WHITE HORSE - FALSE ‘MESSIAHS' (Revelation 6:2).

Many have gone out through history representing themselves as the chosen of God, and have brought death in their train. We do not need to identify a specific one as intended here, for the horseman represents all such. It represents the  idea  of antichrist, and of false claimants to divine authority, whether messiahs, emperors, kings, or prophets.

It may well have been seen by John in the first place to represent such emperors of Rome as claimed to be divine, but we must not limit the horse to Rome. Included are many small ‘Messiahs' who sought to inspire people to rebel in the first century AD (most not recorded but we can be sure that some accepted the title in their petty insurgencies against Rome). Included is Bar Kokhba, ‘son of the Star', a so-called Messiah (around 134 AD) accepted by prominent Rabbis, who persecuted Christians, and who would later bring such misery on the people of Judea. Included are all who represent themselves as specially chosen by God, or as divine, and go to war on that basis blinded by religious zeal or arrogance.

Religion is regularly made the excuse for rampant murder. The white horse is a warning to ‘go not after them' (Luke 21:8), but its march is inevitable due to the nature of man. It will be noted that there is no stress on bloodshed with this horse (contrast the next horse). He goes out to spread his particular ‘truth', the wholesale murder is secondary and not his main aim.

The bow in the hand of the rider shows him to be warlike but clearly distinguishes him from the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19:11. There is in fact not a single parallel apart from the white horse. This rider receives a single crown, while the rider in chapter 19 wears many diadems. This rider carries a bow, while the rider in chapter 19 has a sharp, two edged sword coming from His mouth.

But has the bow any meaning? In Psalms 120:4 lying lips and a deceitful tongue are likened to ‘the sharp arrows of the mighty', an intriguing contrast with the sword of the Spirit of truth (Ephesians 6:17) and both the psalmist and Hosea speak of ‘the deceitful bow' (Psalms 78:57; Hosea 7:16). Thus the bow, with which men are taken by surprise and brought down, is seen as a weapon of deceit. Indeed the bow in his hand may well have in mind the ‘fiery arrows' of the Evil one (Ephesians 6:16). The white rider is out looking for people to strike down from a distance by stealth and deceit. While God deals directly, the Devil prefers subtlety. A bow was also carried in the hand of the mysterious Gog, who symbolised the forces of darkness (Ezekiel 39:3).

Furthermore the bow in the hand of the first rider, combined with the sword in the hand of the second, may have been gathered from Psalms 44:6, ‘For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me' demonstrating that the riders are the opposite of those who trust in God, for they clearly do trust in their bow and sword.

‘A crown was given to him'. Even these horsemen are in the end controlled by God. Unless God had given a crown to the rider on the white horse, he would have had none. Thus even the mighty Roman emperors receive their crown from God. (The use of the passive tense in this way to indicate the action of God parallels Jesus' similar use of the passive tense e.g. in the Beatitudes. It was a characteristic of apocalyptic literature). It is this alone that enables him to go out ‘conquering and to conquer' (‘overcoming and to overcome' - a deliberate parody of the behaviour of true believers who in Revelation also ‘overcome').

This last phrase suggests an excessive determination to conquer. The fact that the crown is specifically stated to have been given by God (Paul had stated that the powers that be were ‘ordained of God' (Romans 13:1)), and the fact of his rapacity in conquering, may again point to ‘divine' Roman emperors as very much in mind here, for it would demonstrate to the readers that whatever their claims their crown came from God - and Rome's thirst for conquest was a byword.

Some would say that the bow prevents too close an identification, but the figure was not intended just to depict Roman emperors, but all false Messiahs, and as we have seen, the writer uses the bow mainly to prevent identification with Christ (Revelation 19:15) and to indicate his more stealthy, deceitful and distant type of approach. As Jesus warned us, many a false Messiah will ride forth in history before the end.

Some have suggested that the bow indicates Eastern origins e.g. the Parthians, but the conquering of the first horse is in contrast with the taking peace from the earth of the second horse. Had it been the Parthians in mind we would expect the descriptions to be reversed. The fact that it represents false Messiahs and the equivalent comes out in that:

1) The horse is white, copying the horse of the true Messiah in Revelation 19:11.

2) The order of events in Jesus' discourse shows false ‘Christs' (Messiahs) as coming first.

3) The lack of emphasis on bloodshed.

4) The fact that the bow is linked with lying and deceit.

5) The deliberate emphasis on conquering or ‘overcoming'. He is a false ‘overcomer'.

6) In Ezekiel 14 the idea of ‘deceitful prophets' (Ezekiel 14:9) precedes the four sore judgments which parallel the next three horses (Ezekiel 14:21).