And I saw when the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, "Come!" And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and the one sitting on it had a bow. A victory crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and in order that he might conquer. Rev. 6:1, 2.
Who is the rider on the white horse? The symbols seem consistently to point in the same direction. First of all, the horse is white in color. Throughout the book of Revelation the color white always refers to the things of Christ and His people. The same is true for the "victory crown" (Greek: stephanos) that the rider wears.
While the language of conquering might seem to reflect something negative, it is primarily a spiritual term in Revelation. In fact, up until chapter 6, the Greek word for conquering always refers to Christ and His people ("to the one who overcomes I will give..."). The word "conquer" in Revelation refers to victory in spiritual matters (Rev. 5:5; 12:11).
The rider on the white horse, therefore, represents the gospel of Jesus Christ, beginning with His enthronement in heaven (Rev. 5) and continuing until the very end. Passing on that gospel is now the major activity of God's people on earth.
I will never forget how the gospel came to me. Serving as a pastor, I wanted to please God and to reach other people for Him. Yet everything I did was to earn His favor. I had no assurance that I was right with Him.
One day I was walking down a forest path sharing the gospel with someone else (how ironic!). She looked at me with desperate eagerness.
"Could God ever accept me after everything I've done?"
"Oh, yes," I said with words that I truly meant, but that didn't seem to apply to me. I assured her many times that all sins could be forgiven. We prayed the "sinner's prayer."
Then she looked at me and said, "Do you think God is really here?" I replied, "Of course." Just then lightening flashed, thunder rolled, and huge downpour soaked us to the skin. She looked at me with eyes shining. ""I'm being baptized again!" And I could see that the gospel had truly struck home for her.
But when I saw the power of the gospel in her eyes, God touched me with a sense of my own acceptance with Him as well. They say that lightening never strikes twice in the same place, but the gospel struck twice that day!
Lord, I need to know that I am right with You. Touch my heart with anything that needs to be made right, anything that I need to understand. I want to be clean in Your eyes.
Who is the rider on the white horse? The symbols seem consistently to point in the same direction. First of all, the horse is white in color. Throughout the book of Revelation the color white always refers to the things of Christ and His people. The same is true for the "victory crown" (Greek: stephanos) that the rider wears.
While the language of conquering might seem to reflect something negative, it is primarily a spiritual term in Revelation. In fact, up until chapter 6, the Greek word for conquering always refers to Christ and His people ("to the one who overcomes I will give..."). The word "conquer" in Revelation refers to victory in spiritual matters (Rev. 5:5; 12:11).
The rider on the white horse, therefore, represents the gospel of Jesus Christ, beginning with His enthronement in heaven (Rev. 5) and continuing until the very end. Passing on that gospel is now the major activity of God's people on earth.
I will never forget how the gospel came to me. Serving as a pastor, I wanted to please God and to reach other people for Him. Yet everything I did was to earn His favor. I had no assurance that I was right with Him.
One day I was walking down a forest path sharing the gospel with someone else (how ironic!). She looked at me with desperate eagerness.
"Could God ever accept me after everything I've done?"
"Oh, yes," I said with words that I truly meant, but that didn't seem to apply to me. I assured her many times that all sins could be forgiven. We prayed the "sinner's prayer."
Then she looked at me and said, "Do you think God is really here?" I replied, "Of course." Just then lightening flashed, thunder rolled, and huge downpour soaked us to the skin. She looked at me with eyes shining. ""I'm being baptized again!" And I could see that the gospel had truly struck home for her.
But when I saw the power of the gospel in her eyes, God touched me with a sense of my own acceptance with Him as well. They say that lightening never strikes twice in the same place, but the gospel struck twice that day!
Lord, I need to know that I am right with You. Touch my heart with anything that needs to be made right, anything that I need to understand. I want to be clean in Your eyes.
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