Revelation

THE BOOK OF REVELATION: M. M. NINAN
also refers to his mouth as a sharpened sword, must be the word of God. ( See also
http://www.apocalypse-soon.com/the_four_horsemen.htm)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Besides Christ, the horseman could represent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was understood to have come
upon the Apostles at Pentecost after Jesus' departure from Earth. The appearance of the Lamb in Revelation
5 shows the triumphant arrival of Jesus in Heaven, and the white horseman could represent the sending of
the Holy Spirit by Jesus and the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
LUST FOR CONQUEST
The first rider represents the lust for conquest and as such forms an integral part of the four horsemen
who are all evil and are summed up by the fourth horsemen. Conquest brings with it war, famine and death.
However the colour white is usually associated with good not evil, but it can indicate victory (Lenski), the
rider wears the victory crown. Grimsrud argues that the white horse signifies triumphant warfare
because the four horsemen represent war and its attendant evils: war, strife, famine and disease, and makes
the following observation: ' Conquer is used 11 times in the book to allude to conquest by a faithful witness
(once in each of the seven letters, in 5:5 of the Lamb, and in 12:11 and 15:2 of the faithful servants). Three
times it refers to conquest by violence (here, in 11:7 where the beast kills the two witnesses, and in 13:7
where the beast wars against and conquers the saints). In all 'conquering' passages, Christ and his followers
conquer by dying; Satan and the evil powers by killing'.
ANTI CHRIST
A step further is to say that the rider is the antichrist who brings havoc and misery on the world as
indicated by the second, third and fourth horsemen, the fifth seal shows the resultant persecution of
Christians by the antichrist followed by the sixth seal representing the end when Christ returns. Johnson
identifies the rider on the white horse with the antichrist and his forces that seek to conquer the
followers of Christ. Each of the first four seals, then, represents conflict directed at Christians to test them
and sift out false disciples. This interpretation need not necessarily eliminate the fact that the seals may also
refer to judgments on humankind in general. Yet since the fifth seal stresses the cry of the martyred
Christians, probably the thought of Christian persecution belongs also in the first four seals. Each of them
unleashes events that separate false belief from true. The destruction of Jerusalem is a case in point (Lk
21:20 ff.). The white horse goes forth to conquer, and as he does so, judgment falls on the unbelief of Israel
(Lk 21:22-23), while at the same time there is testing of believers to separate the chaff from the wheat (cf.
Lk 21:12-19).
• He is the deceiver; therefore he appears in white (Mat 24:5, 2 Thess 2:11). The rider on the white
horse imitates Christ. If that is not Christ he must be imitator of Christ.
• Christ does not appear as a White Horse Rider until chapter 19:11-16. He comes with the armies of
Heaven and give Battle of Armageddon. He is called "Faithful and True,". On His head there is a
many "Diademed Crown," and He is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called
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