The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse
Revelation 6
paints for us an ominous, grim picture of the last days. It describes four
horses and riders; the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which comes on the
world scene.
First is
“the rider of the white horse.” He has a bow in his hand, the means to make
war, but with no arrow; he is given a crown and he goes forth to conquer and to
subjugate all the world.
He is
followed by the frightening riders of the red, the black, and the pale horses.
Each, in turn, brings in its wake bloodshed, famine, disaster, disease and
death on a massive scale. By these catastrophes the whole earth is ravaged, and
many are slained.
The man who
sits astride the white horse is an impressive figure. The people honor him as a
leader and warrior, while he is capable of making war, he comes initially as a
man of peace. Thus, he rides a white horse, the symbol of peace. He will usher
in an unprecedented era of global harmony and tranquility. But this conclusion
is wrong.
Instead, his
arrival on the world stage presages the most devastating period in the annals
of human history—when, in “a dark season” Death, the Destroyer, is the
companion of “the white horse rider,” and a cloud of misery soon envelops
humanity, in the arrival of “the pale horse rider”.
For
centuries, men of political conclave have eagerly awaited the emergence of this
heroic figure atop the white horse. Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon,
Hitler, Lenin, and many others were once acclaimed as world heroes. Each
attained only a partial ‘measure of splendor’ before the fire of their
achievements flickered out and was extinguished.
Today, once
again, nations and people everywhere hungrily long for and await the coming of
a figurative hero ‘riding a white horse.’ They expect him to come and set
things right. They believe that he and he alone will be able to bring peace to
a war-torn, troubled world.
In Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, world leaders from 120 nations assembled for the
first Earth Summit. Fearing a looming environmental disaster such as global
warming, they began their global conclave with what they called: “The Great
Invocation” which literally invokes, the heroic “rider of the white horse” to
come forth to take the reins of world government, to unite the nations and lead
“the New World Order.” In unison, world leaders from the United States,
Germany, Russia, Britain, France, China, and scores of other nations solemnly
stood and cried out, “Let the rider from the secret place come forth…”
Jesus
Christ, too rides a white horse in Revelation 19:11-16 and He has a Name
written: "KING OF kings and LORD OF lords."
He also has
an army, an army that cannot be defeated. They are made up of "the overcomers."
They shall reign with Him forever, His Kingdom shall never fall.