Who is this rider on the white horse, with a victor’s crown on his head and a bow in his hand? White always represents something to do with God and Christ in the Book of Revelation. Christ Himself will later appear on a white horse,1 and the Lamb’s bride is clothed in bright, fine linen,2 and the Heavenly hosts follow Him on white horses, clothed in white and bright, fine linen.3 The ‘multitude no one could count’ wears white robes.4 Christ promises a white stone5 and white robes6 to the conquerors. The elders are clothed in white7 and the martyrs receive white garments.8 Christ is seen with hair like white wool9 and is seen on a white cloud,10 whereas God is seen on a white throne11 at the Last Judgment. Disasters also do not take place at the appearance of this ‘first rider on the white horse’. He cannot be Christ Himself. He Himself will appear in Revelation 19:11–16. He cannot be the ‘anti-Christ’ either. He appears as the ‘beast’ in Revelation 13. Then who is he? For he—as the first one—rides out over the earth as a ‘conqueror’ with a crown and fights effectively with a bow. Mark 13:10 says: “And the Gospel must first be preached to all nations.”12 From the similarities between the discourse by Jesus on the last things in the Gospels and the Book of Revelation, in which all these things are referred to again, in more detail, there is much to be said for considering the rider on the white horse to be the preaching of the Gospel throughout the whole world. That has to come first! That Gospel is making a way for itself ‘violently’13 and God’s grace is ‘irresistible’. The bow corresponds well to this. ‘You called for many arrows… You came out to deliver Your people, for the salvation of Your anointed ones, Habakkuk says.14 Although “the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and although forceful men try to lay hold of it”13 as the Lord Jesus says: “He turns them to windblown chaff with His bow,” Isaiah says.15 Jesus is like the polished arrow He has in His quiver16—just like Israel.17 The crown shows that the Gospel will progress triumphantly, in spite of hatred, derision and persecution until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.18 What a comfort and an encouragement this must have been for the Church during the first centuries! In spite of all attempts at eradicating the Christians, throwing them to the lions, using them as torches at garden parties, Rome would never be able to subdue the Gospel. The Kingdom will break through in many people’s hearts, in spite of everything, and in the midst of a world threatened by many forms of evil in society and the shaking of nature itself, as will be shown in the braking of the seals that follow. With more details in the seven trumpets and the seven bowls, and the coming of the ‘beast’. However, all of this ultimately will lead to the ‘birth of the baby’: the revelation of the King and of His Kingdom! The Lord Jesus is Coming!
• The background to the horses and the riders is to be found in Zechariah. He sees four chariots coming with red, black, white and dappled horses.19 These horses also are ‘going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world’ to the four points of the compass.
• The bow has led some expositors to think of the Parthian people, to the South-West of the Caspian Sea (Iran)—famous for their use of bows and arrows. Subdued by the Persians, and later by the Greek Seleucids of Syria, they always succeeded in liberating themselves and were a permanent threat to the Eastern border of the Roman Empire—conquered and yet invincible, like the Gospel.
Bible References:
1.Revelation 19:11 2.Revelation 19:8 3.Revelation 19:14 4.Revelation 7:9 5.Revelation 2:17 6.Revelation 3:4, 5 and 18 7.Revelation 4:4 8.Revelation 6:11 9.Revelation 1:14 10.Revelation 14:14 11.Revelation 20:11 12.Comp. Matthew 24:14 13.Matthew 11:12 NIV 14.Habakkuk 3:9 and 13 15.Isaiah 41:2b 16.Isaiah 49:1–2, see also Psalm 45:4–6 17.Zechariah 9:13 18.Romans 11:25 19.Zechariah 6:1–8
