First Seal: The Conqueror
6 Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the [a]seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
This first rider represents judgment in the grasp of a messianic state that leads inevitably to wars and rumors of wars
It clearly has to do with militarism and unrest but not the Gospel
The first thing that leaps out to us and probably the ancient hearers of this text is the white horse
Everything about it speaks to righteousness and peace
Yet this righteousness and peace is nothing but a counterfeit in every way
We know from Zechariah that this first of four riders is a spirit and these spirit riders have come, not to create peace, but for chaos
Historically this white horse would invoke the image of the Caesars who were ruling over the audience of the time
Starting with Augustus, all the emperors chose white to symbolize the peace that they would bring to their empire by means of their savior, the Caesar
Tiberius, the Caesar at the time of Jesus crucifixion had “Pax,” or peace on his coins as well as the word “Savior”
The idea was that he would bring in peace by his conquests
But his peace and salvation came through a statist view of peace and grace while Jesus Kingdom comes through redemption
The phrase “there was given,” which is used of all these spirit riders refers to divine permission granted to these spirits the authority to carry out their work in influencing these rulers into working for Yahweh even though they oppose Him
This permission comes only from the Lamb, Jesus Christ and that should be comforting for His followers
These rulers and their rider counterparts could not be on the scene without Christ’s permission, without His purpose, and only if they served His kingdom growth and working together by Jesus for their (His servants) good and His glory
Here we see how the Lamb has come to reverse all that has happened physically and spiritually
The Kingdom has been inaugurated and the Stone is about to smash the kingdoms of man and return them to God
It truly set in motion at the crucifixion of Jesus and His resurrection
It starts here in 30 AD with Rome and Tiberius physically and it began spiritually with Jesus conquering death as He took the power from Satan’s hold over mankind
Luke 10
17 Then the [e]seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”
18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but [f]rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
These 70 or 72 represented the Gentile nations being reclaimed by God from the Eliohim who were over them and misleading them
We don’t know when this spirit, released by Jesus, began to trouble Tiberius (possibly 30 AD) but about partway through his reign things began to change for the worse
He became increasingly corrupt
In this we see the physical and the spiritual workings in the background behind what we see
We see a false savior represented by the white horse
This application should really make us think about who we support in the political realm
We see false peace symbolized by white and the term “Pax Romana”
Their peace came from their armies brutally suppressed any resistance in the name of peace
The fact that this rider holds a bow also gives us the impression that he is headed to war
This, along with the white horse, has many claiming that this rider was associated with Caesar Augustus, who being a Cretan, came from a race of bowmen
A victor’s crown was given to him
Also called a Laurel crown, it was given to winners of games
This was given to him which shows us that he had permission to be victorious
This caused some to see this rider as especially Tiberius, all Caesars wore this crown in their images and coins, but Tiberius most of all
He wore it all the time because he thought it protected him from lightning strikes
He went out conquering
And to conquer
The strange wording tells us that he wanted to conquer more but that he was only allowed to go so far
Looking at these riders, as influencing the Roman Empire is all well and good, even seeing the Antichrist in the first one
But we have to look at each with the Old Testament in mind
Rome did have an effect on Israel and the church but if we look at the Old Testament mentions of these riders I think that we will see something more than just Rome
Zechariah 6
6 Then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. 2 With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses, 3 with the third chariot white horses, and with the fourth chariot dappled horses—strong steeds. 4 Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 And the angel answered and said to me, “These are four spirits of heaven, who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. 6 [a]The one with the black horses is going to the north country, the white are going after them, and the dappled are going toward the south country.” 7 Then the strong steeds went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And He said, “Go, walk to and fro throughout the earth.” So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. 8 And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “See, those who go toward the north country have given rest to My Spirit in the north country.”
But first Zechariah saw this
Zechariah 1
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet: 8 I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white. 9 Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” So the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”
10 And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.”
11 So they answered the Angel of the Lord, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is [a]resting quietly.”
So we see that these are spirits who seem to be sent out to look for trouble but here in Revelation they are sent out to cause trouble
They also report to the Angel of the Lord, part of the Old Testament “Two Yahwehs” thinking
So we see them here in the throne room of Yahweh, following the direction of the Lamb now and just as in Zechariah, they must be taken together as cause and effect for each other
The spirit released by the first seal goes out globally to conquer and cause war and this directly impacts the rest of the spirits
Even though this happens all at once I believe that the effects of these four spans from 30 AD till our time and correlates with the “Beginning of Sorrows” that Jesus talks about
Mark 13
5 And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 6 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. 7 But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines [a]and troubles. These are the beginnings of [b]sorrows.
Matthew 24
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for [a]all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, [b]pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Of course a correlation between “False Christs” and the first rider could be argued especially when the white horse is chosen to be released first
But we see in the first what Jesus says “Wars and rumors of wars,” as well as “Nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”
This was a promise to Israel but could be applied to any nation
Leviticus 26
18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 I will break the pride of your power;
I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain;
for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
21 ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.
22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number;
and your highways shall be desolate.
23 ‘And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,
24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant;
when you are gathered together within your cities I will send pestilence among you;
and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 When I have cut off your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
27 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me,
28 then I also will walk contrary to you in fury;
and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
Ezekiel 14
12 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: 13 “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. 14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.
15 “If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they [a]empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, 16 even though these three men were [b]in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate.
17 “Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I cut off man and beast from it, 18 even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered.
19 “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, 20 even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”
21 For thus says the Lord God: “How much more it shall be when I send My four [c]severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it? 22 Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. 23 And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it,” says the Lord God.
This is not just a first century occurrence
We still see the very same problems in our times
I believe that we also still see the influence of the first rider on world leaders on every continent
We still see the tyranny and oppression that comes with war, statism, false peace and justice
The main point is that these phenomena are no accident of nature or the origination of man or Satan
They are of divine origin and are designed to call all to repentance, to punish those who refuse and rebel, to judge those who persecute His people, and to refine His called
Walking by Faith 