REVELATION 6.1 I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, “Come and see!” 6.2 And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. -WEB Bible.
The Four Horsemen are metaphors for disasters that
will happen on earth. The Horsemen don't ride as a group: they are sent out one
at a time and in a specific order. Each event is worse than the one before it.
The first Horseman lays groundwork for the second Horseman, and the second
Horsman lays groundwork for the third, etc.
The Tribulation doesn't begin with a lot of drama. The White
Horsman is appealing and doesn't look very dangerous. But the other three
Horsemen are definitely very vile, so this White Horseman can't be up to any
good either. What, then, is the White Horseman sent out to accomplish?
Jesus predicted that a great time of Deception would happen
during the end times. In fact, he told his disciples that deception would be one
of the major signs of the end:
MATTHEW 24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount
of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when
will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of
the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no
one deceives you.”
MATTHEW 24:24-25 For false messiahs and false prophets will
arise, and they will give great signs so as to deceive, if possible, even the
elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand.
The era of deception would be so powerful, everyone
on earth would be deceived in some way or other. Jesus said that only
the "elect" would escape the great time of deception, and even some
of those would be at risk.
I TIMOTHY 4:1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the
last times some will turn away from the faith by paying attention to deceitful
spirits and the lies of demons.
The White Horseman carries a quiver full of arrows: he
doesn’t need just one strategy in order to prevail. It’s become obvious (at this time) that there
are a million liars inventing a million deceptions, and each lie is meant to
appeal to individual people in some way or other.
There are lies designed to hook each and every one of us.
And, each person believes they've chosen a wise and righteous path for
themselves. They’re eager to follow whoever appears to wear the metaphorical white
hat.
But all of those lies have a common purpose: to distract
people from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The great Liar himself,
Satan, doesn’t care what you believe as long as you stay away from Jesus. And
his strategy is working because even devout Christians have been derailed from
what’s important: they’ve been sucked into the drama of our time.
Don't assume you hold the Truth in your hands, because in an
age of countless lies, none of us can be sure of that. We are all vulnerable to
the prevailing deceptions.
And, Jesus told us what we must do, in MARK
12.29 Jesus answered, “The greatest commandment is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord
our God, the Lord is one: 12.30 you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength.’ This is the first commandment. 12.31 The second is like this,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment
greater than these.” -WEB Bible
If we seek to obey those two commandments, Jesus promises
that we will not stray far from truth. This is because Jesus himself is the
source of truth:
JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the
way, and the truth, and the life." -WEB
Bible.
SUMMARY OF THE VISION:
- The powerful White Horse represents the great time of Deception that Jesus predicted.
- The Gold Crown represents the power of this era of Deception. Nothing can stop the White Horseman: he will prevail.
- The Bow and Arrow represent the harmful division that happens because of all the lies and deceptions, as well as the wounds that result from lies.
- The Man on the horse reminds us that this judgment is a driving force allowed by God: to sort, sift and settle (once and for all) those who are willing to choose God, or those who would rather embrace the deceptions of the world.
Some people think the White Horseman will be the Antichrist,
but according to the book of Revelation the Antichrist will appear later in the
tribulation. Regardless of when the Antichrist appears,
the White Horseman and his deceptions are what will make it possible for the
Antichrist to rise to power as quickly as he does.
THE END TIMES REBELLION
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Don’t let anyone
deceive you in any way, for the Lord Jesus Christ will not come until the
rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction. NIV
Bible
Deception and rebellion play off each other. In the
Garden of Eden, Eve was deceived and so she rebelled against God’s
instructions. In 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul refers to the end times
deception as the “rebellion.” And the rebellion of mankind will be hand-in-hand
with the rise of the Antichrist.
IMAGE CREDIT: The Horse Tamer sculpture is a statue in St. Petersburg, Russia. Photographer is Walter Smith from Seattle, WA, USA. The original photo is used under the Creative Commons 2.0 license. Photo has been significantly revised by C.A. Stevens.