Zechariah 1:8

Zec. 1:8. "I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled and white." The grove of myrtle-trees signifies the church. It was a grove of myrtle-trees, down in a bottom, hid by the adjacent hills, so that you were not aware of it, until you were just upon it. This represents the low, dark, solitary, melancholy condition of the Jewish church at this time. They were overtopped by all their neighbors, buried in obscurity, as the woman in the wilderness, Revelation 12:6. Being in a valley, is evidently used to signify being in mean, depressed, afflicted circumstances; Isaiah 32:19, "And the city shall be low in a low place." And being set on high, on a mountain, denotes a state of great honou and prosperity: Isaiah 2:2, "The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains." Hence Babylon, though built on a plain, is called a mountain. Jeremiah 51:25. The man upon the red horse, in the midst of this myrtle grove, is no other than Jesus Christ, the same that appeared to Joshua with his sword drawn in his hand, as Captain of the hosts of the Lord, Joshua 5:13; Joshua 5:14; and to John, as captain of the armies of heaven, sitting on a white horse, clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, out of whose mouth went a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, who should rule them with a rod of iron, and who treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, having the armies of heaven following on white horses, Revelation 19.

Though the church was in a low condition, yet Christ was present in the midst of it. He was riding as a man of war, as a man in haste, riding on the heavens for the help of his people, Deuteronomy 33:26. He rode on a red horse, either naturally so, or dyed red with the blood of war, as this same victorious prince appears red in his apparel, by treading on his enemies, and besmearing his raiment with their blood, as in the forementioned place of Revelation and Isaiah 63:3. Red is a fiery color denoting what is said, Zechariah 1:14; Zechariah 1:15, that he was jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion, with great jealousy, and that he was very sore displeased with their enemies. Christ under the law appeared on a red horse, denoting the terror of that dispensation, and that he had yet his conflict before him, when he was to resist unto blood. But under the gospel he appears on a white horse, Revelation 19, denoting that he has now gained the victory, and rides in triumph, and hangs out the white, not the bloody, flag. Here also follows him an army on horseback, as in the 19th chapter of Revelation. Behind him were some on red horses, some speckled, some white, angels attending on the Lord Jesus Christ, ready to be employed by him, some in acts of judgment, others of mercy, others in mixed events. And probably they appeared in the order in which they are mentioned; the red first, and the speckled next, and the white last. The red that appeared first, noting God's indignation, and just judgments against the church of Israel in their captivity, mentioned Zechariah 1:12. "Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years." The speckled that were partly red, partly white, noting God's present dealings with them since their captivity, that were mixed. God had exercised great mercy towards them, in restoring them out of captivity to their own land, as it was far otherwise with them than it had been. But yet it was a time of great adversity with them, which is signified by the myrtle-trees being in a low place, and which was the occasion of the earnest intercession of him that stood among the myrtle-trees for them. Verse 12. The white horses that were last, denote that glorious prosperity which God now promises to his church, that shall be the conclusion and issue of all those trouble. Zechariah 1:13; Zechariah 1:16; Zechariah 1:17. The color, white, sometimes is made use of to signify holiness, or purity, and sometimes mercy and prosperity; sometimes freedom or purity from the evil of sin, and sometimes freedom from the evil of affliction. So it is evidently used, Revelation 7:14, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Zec. 14:6-7