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The White Horse and Rider
RV113-01© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1993)
We are studying Revelation 6:1-2. This is segment number eight on the first seal. John the apostle, in his vision of heaven, has seen God the Father
holding a scroll to which is attached seven seals. The seven-sealed scroll contains a description of human history, which God has ordained,
particularly on this earth, for the tribulation era. The breaking of these seals will reveal the future series of tribulation era events by which
God will totally discredit the attempt of man to be the lord of creation instead of Jesus Christ. The result of these divine judgments will be that
Satan will be humiliated and completely defeated.
We have learned that the tribulation era is the 70th week of years of Daniel's prophecy about the 490 years of Jewish history, from the establishing
of the decree to return to rebuild the city of Jerusalem to the establishing of the Davidic Kingdom on this earth ruled by Jesus Christ forever. The
first 69 weeks of Daniel's timetable for Israel has been literally fulfilled. The final week of seven years will not begin until after the rapture of
the church. It has been separated from the other weeks by almost 2,000 years now.
Revelation chapters 6 through 19 describe the events of this 70th week of years. In those chapters, we find the events which will be turned loose
by God in divine judgment upon Satan's world and his followers.
The Rapture
Preceding the breaking of the first seal, however, I want to remind you again so that you had the picture clear, the rapture of the church will
have taken place. All of you Christians will have been removed from the planet earth. This is an event that you will not personally go through.
There is no reference to the church in the accounts of the tribulation era. This worldwide event, of course, the removal of all the Christians
from the earth, cannot go unnoticed in the world. All of human society will be aware of it, and a state of utter confusion will exist in the
nations. There will be, no doubt, a period of several weeks while the world recovers from the shock of the removal from the earth of all the
genuine Christians. These are those who are in the church universal – those who are in the body of Christ. This does not mean that all
church congregations will be removed. Many church congregations of the liberal orientation are simply congregations of unbelievers. They will go
on without any interruption in their church programs and rituals and ceremonies. But those who are genuine born-again believers will be removed.
It will be a noticeable event in the world's history. The United Nations will probably be called into special session to cope with the turmoil
which will then exist among the nations.
The free world nations and the communist bloc will probably suspect each other of having caused the disappearance of so many of the world's
finest citizens, and the consequent disasters as the result of the removal of those people. Somebody will suspect that someone has a secret
weapon. Fear, of course, will initially engulf the minds of the people as they finally grasp what has happened as they discover people missing.
You can imagine no end of situations that people will be in when the rapture takes place.
I was thinking the other day of being at your dentist. Can you imagine sitting in your dentist's chair where he has your mouth wide open with all
of those things they put in there to keep your mouth open? He has deadened the nerve, and he's been drilling away, and he's down to the most
sensitive part of your tooth. And you know how dentists are. They have a habit of appearing and disappearing constantly by your chair. It's sort
of a supernatural quality that they have. If you close your eyes, as people often do in the dentist's chair, when you reopen them, he's gone. So,
you can imagine that the rapture takes place, and you had the bad judgment to have a Christian dentist. He's gone, and you're sitting there. You
happen to close your eyes. You open your eyes. You say, "Oh, he's gone out to get a snack again," or whatever he goes out for. Time goes by, and
the stuff is wearing off, and the pain is coming is. It is excruciating. You don't know how to take all this stuff out of your mouth. So, finally,
you walk up and down the aisles, and if he's got the bad judgment to have a bunch of saved people working for him, the place is empty. Now that's
pain. That's terror. That's turmoil.
It is going to be multiplied in a way that you can imagine. The world is going to be well aware of the fact that we fundamentalist Christians are
gone. And the fear that will grip people's hearts will be absolutely unbelievable until they can cope with this thing.
The nations of the world probably will be clamoring to the United Nations for financial aid to repair the damage resulting from the sudden departure
of people who were engaged in all kinds of activities at the moment of their departure. The result of their departure created various disasters. As
usual, the United States will be expected to provide most of the relief that these nations will need, in spite of the fact that the United States
will be one of the nations who will suffer the greatest losses and the greatest disasters, because we have so many born-again people in this country.
A World of Sin
However, after the initial shock, and some weeks of cleanup and restoration, the world will settle down, and actually be relieved that the
Christian element is gone, even though they have constituted the most honest, intelligent, industrious, informed, dependable, and educated members
of society. Nevertheless, the world will be glad that those dudes are gone, because there will then be no more opposition to socialism and world
government, and the wholesale distribution of wealth through things called social programs. There will be no more Moral Majority with its
irritating crusades against homosexuality; fornication; adultery; public nudity; and, abortion. There'll be no hindrances in public entertainment
to the display of the grossest debaucheries imagined by the sin nature. There will now easily be legalization of hard drugs and of marijuana, to let
everyone freely turn on. There will be total control of education by evolutionary humanism, so the educators will now be free to prepare students
for a collectivist society.
Religion
Religion will be totally freed from the supreme authority of the Bible, and will be under control of demonic powers who will establish confidence
by demonstrating miracles. And don't forget that. Just as in the charismatic movement today, the demonic powers create certain miracles, so there
will be wholesale miracles at this point of time. Of course, the World Council of Churches will be riding high as religion and churches, apart from
the basis of salvation through Jesus Christ, will continue in business as usual.
The breaking of the seals then reveals the kind of world which will result from the removal of Christians and their divine viewpoint influence,
because then the preserving salt will have been removed from society, and then will come to pass the condition which is described by the apostle Paul
in 2 Thessalonians 2:6, where we read, "And you know what restrains him now, that He might be revealed in his time." And the passage goes on to
describe the restraining influence of someone that does not permit the conditions of the antichrist world to come to pass. The people in Thessalonica
misunderstood Paul's teaching relative to end time events. They thought that it was going to happen very quickly. And because it did not happen,
they were concerned for two things: One, that they had missed the rapture; and, two, that some of the believers among them who had died had somehow
been excluded from that great event of the return to the Lord in the rapture.
So, Paul is explaining to them that there is a restrainer upon evil, and the events of the tribulation world cannot come to pass until this
restrainer is removed. The restrainer, of course, is God the Holy Spirit. So, verse 7 says, "For the mystery of iniquity already works, only he who
now hinders it (that is, God the Holy Spirit) will continue to hinder until He be taken out of the way." When is the Holy Spirit going to be removed
from hindering evil on this earth? At the point of the rapture? He now indwells the believers as the body of Christ. When we go, His presence with
us departs as well. He will, of course, be in this world in the power of His omnipresence. However, in the power of his active functioning, He will
be removed. When the church goes, He goes. That's when the world can finally turn all the spigots wide open on all the evil that wants to spew out
from the sin nature. Do you think things are bad today? Just wait until you see what happens in the tribulation. That's when things really become
evil.
Revelation 6:1
So, now we begin the Revelation 6:1: "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the
four living creatures saying, 'Come.'" Now, we're dealing with the beginning of the seven-year period of the tribulation – Daniel's 70th week.
The apostle John says, "And I saw when the Lamb opened." The word "saw" is the Greek word "horao." This is the word that indicates seeing in an
overall panoramic view. It is in the aorist tense, which is a point action in the Greek, which is telling us that John is centering in on observing
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is now standing there holding the scroll in His hand. It is active. John personally is actually seeing this. He is not
imagining this. This is actually portrayed before him in his vision. The idea here is: "And I watched." That is a good way to translate this.
The Lamb (Jesus Christ)
Then we have the word "when." This is the Greek word "hote." This indicates a time sequence. We would translate this as "as:" "And I watched as
the Lamb." This is the word that we have had repeatedly referring to Jesus Christ here in this vision: the "arnion." The "arnion" refers to the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God given by the Father for the sacrifice of the sins of the world. The Greek language has the Lamb,
indicating that it's the one that has been dealt with previously here in this context.
The Lord Jesus Christ is standing there with this scroll in his hand. John watches as the Lord does something to the scroll. John says, "And I
watched as the Lamb opened." This is the Greek word "anoigo." This word here means "to break." He actually is breaking the seals. This is the
point at which John sees the Lord Jesus Christ break the seal, and unroll the scroll till it comes to the next seal. This is in the active voice,
indicating that Jesus himself breaks the seal since, as we have seen, He alone is worthy to do so by reason of His efficacious sacrifice of Himself
on the cross for the sins of the world.
The Breaking of the First Seal
What he does is that He breaks "one seal." The word "one" is this Greek word for one: "heis," and here it really means "the first." It is the first
of the seals. Again, this is the same word that we've had before: "sphragis." The Lord is going to open these seals one-by-one. So, we read that He
is opening one of the seals. The Greek language has the word "seven" in it, so it actually says, "And as I watched, the Lamb opened one of the seven
seals." These, you remember, have been placed on the scroll to preserve the secrecy of the information which is recorded on the scroll. The
information has to do with the judgments of God on the tribulation world. These judgments will establish the authority and the right of the
authority of Jesus Christ over the whole world.
John Hears a Voice
So, the document is, in effect, the title deed to the earth. Breaking the first seal permitted a portion of the scroll to be unrolled, and that
part of the information then revealed. Then we have an angelic command that comes into the picture. John says, "I heard, as it were." The word
"heard" is the Greek word "akouo." The word means to hear a distinctive sound. It is the aorist tense. It's at the point when this sound reaches
John's ear. John is personally hearing the sounds. He's not imagining this. He actually is hearing the voice, even as now you hear my voice. It's
indicative – a statement of fact. John says, "I heard, as it were." This is the Greek word "hos." It's an adverb which indicates that a
comparison is being introduced. He says, "I heard something like a noise." That is our translation in the King James Bible. But the word is the
Greek word "phone," which is the word for "voice." So, that what he heard was not just the noise, but an intelligible sound – a voice.
He says, "It was a voice as (that is, like) thunder, and that's the Greek word "bronte." This refers to the booming sound in nature following a
lightning discharge. The meaning here is "of thunder" or "like thunder:" "I heard a voice like thunder – loud and awesome, a tremendous
booming voice, like you'd hear a crack of thunder across the sky following a lightning flash.
He says that it was the voice of one of the four living creatures (the "zoon"). We've heard that word before. This refers, remember, to the four
angelic beings who are acting as an honor guard surrounding the Father's throne, and acting as a guard of His holiness. One of the four now speaks
out in a thunderous voice: "saying." That's the word "lego." That is the word that expresses a statement that wants you to concentrate on the
meaning of the words which are spoken. These are spoken here by the angel. What he says is one word, and he booms it out: "erchomai." This word
means "move out" or "come." It is present tense. It's a continual action. It is active voice. The recipient of the angel's word is to respond.
It's in imperative mood, which is a command to come forward. This command is not to the apostle John. This command is to some personality which is
going to appear in verse 2.
So, we'll translate verse one in this way: "And I watched as the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living
creatures saying, in a voice like thunder, 'Come.'" Now that sets the scene.
Revelation 6:2
Verse 2: As the result of the angelic command, John suddenly sees a white horse appear, and a rider on the horse: "I saw, and behold, a white
horse." The word saw is again that word "horao" that we had in verse 1 for a panoramic overall view. John is taking the whole picture in at once,
and he actually sees this horse. This is, again, actively something that John is seeing now.
The time of this observation, I remind you, is at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period – the final seven years of Jewish
history divided into two parts: three-and-a-half years each. The seven years is called the tribulation. The final three-and-a-half years is called
the great tribulation, because of the intensity of events that happen. We are now breaking open the seals. These seals go from one through six.
They're moving through the first part of this first three-and-a-half year period. Then you get to the seventh seal, and as we shall see, out of the
seventh seal comes seven trumpets, and these trumpets sound off from one through six. You get to the seventh one, and out of the seventh trumpet
comes seven bowls of intense divine wrath. And you have one through seven of those.
The progression is like this through the tribulation period of
seven years. The trumpets, and particularly these bowls, come down near the end. When we get to the portion of our study about the bowls, you will
see that the things that happen to the earth are so enormous that human life can barely sustain itself. It just can hardly exist. All of the
freshwater areas, by that time, have turned to blood. All of the sea areas have turned to blood. There is terrific devastation upon the vegetation.
There is terrific turmoil in outer space. There is intense heat of the sun. So, at this point, these things come at the very end, one after another,
like somebody taking a hammer and striking on an anvil with severe blows.
However, right now, we're here at the beginning of the tribulation, and everybody has finally gotten over this rapture of the church and the
disappearance of all these Christians. The world has finally settled down, and now we're going to see what's going to happen to the planet.
The first thing that John sees is this horse. He says, "And I saw, and behold." The word "behold" is also this same word "horao," except that it's
in an expression that the New Testament uses to indicate that something important is about to be said. It connotes to observe carefully, and it
connotes to observe carefully for your own benefit, because this time the word "horao" is in the aorist tense, which means a point to observe
carefully. But it's in the middle voice, which means that it's for your benefit. You'd be wise to pay attention. Then again, it's imperative mood.
It's a command: Pay attention. Something important is about to be revealed.
A White Horse
What he sees is a "white," and that's just the plain Greek word for "white" which is "leukos," and a white "hippos." A "hippos" is a horse. It is
white in color. In the Bible, as well as in the ancient world, the color "white," signified victory. In the Roman Empire, when the victorious
general came home and went on parade with his captives and his booty of conquest, he rode in a vehicle which was drawn by white horses –
usually four white horses. So, immediately, we have a military scene introduced here. Immediately, we have something that has to do with a military
victory, or a conquest: "I saw, behold (pay attention) a white horse, and he that sat." That's the Greek word "kathemai." This is the word simply for
describing the posture of riding a horse. He sees someone who is sitting on the back of this horse. And the rider is simply observed by John on this
horse.
The Riders on the Horses
These riders actually symbolize something. As we will see as we look at the other three horses which will be appearing in the next three seals, they
are not actually human beings that are on these horses, per se. But rather, the human beings that are portrayed here are personification. They
represent movements and forces: totalitarianism; famine; death; and, so on. So, it isn't actually a person per se that we are identifying here, but
the individual on this particular colored horse represents a movement (a condition).
The Antichrist
The white horse rider represents a movement whose objective is to seize world domination with man as his own lord, and God and His Bible cast aside.
Of course, the white horse rider can actually be more closely identified in this case with an individual that we know is going to come on the scene:
namely the antichrist – the ruler of the Western Confederacy. This is the one who sets himself up as a false God. The white horse rider
movement is headed up by the antichrist. He is the false messiah of Satan. I think it would be helpful to think about this rider in that terms,
because this antichrist rider does indeed epitomize the objective of world conquest.
Nobody thinks too much today about conquering the world, outside of the communists. But that is the objective of this man. He comes on the scene.
He doesn't just want to be the ruler of those ten nations that he has organized in Western Europe. He wants to be the ruler of all the nations of
the world, and he wants it just because it's a position of power. Just as the communist rulers today (the Politburo of the Communist Party –
the central committee that runs everything), want to be in that position of authority just because of the power it gives them: the power to starve
you to death; the power to kill you; and, the power to let you live. To them, that's an exhilarating position to be in, having that kind of power
over human beings. That's what the antichrist is after. He is after power. And he has great power because he is Satan's creation. He is a man who
has all the capacity of the devil at his disposal, just at the snapping of his fingertips. He is a powerful personality.
So, he comes out here riding on this white horse: "He that sat on him." The word "on" is "epi." It's preposition indicating that he's actually
riding horseback. But who is the riders specifically? We've indicated it is the antichrist. Somebody might say, "That sure sounds an awful lot
like Revelation 19:11: "And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in
righteousness, He judges and makes war." Well, this passage in Revelation 19:11 is describing Jesus Christ at His Second Coming. He is coming
on a white horse (appearing on a white horse). But this is not the Lord Jesus on this white horse here in Revelation 6, because following the
appearance of the rider on this white horse, there comes upon this earth tremendous sorrow; tremendous agony; and, tremendous disasters. Whereas
following the appearance of Jesus Christ on the white horse, there will come all the prosperity; the peace; and, the joy of the millennial earth.
So, the two are totally different.
Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Christ appears on His white horse at the end of the tribulation period, whereas this rider is at the very beginning of
the tribulation period. So, don't confuse those two. They are two different riders on a white horse, but both are signifying the same thing –
a person who is in total power riding a white horse, symbolizing complete military dominance. For that is exactly what Jesus Christ will have when
He does return, coming on a white horse, symbolizing the same military superiority, as He will demonstrate very quickly as He destroys all the
armies of the world which have gathered under the antichrist to attack the returning Son of God.
In Daniel 7:8, you have reference to this man that is on this wide horse. We'll give just a brief reflection on those: "I considered the horns,
and behold, there came up among them another little horn." This is the rider of the white horse: "Before which there were three of the first horns
plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things." So, the little horn is so
powerful militarily that three other horns (that is, three other nations) are just torn out by the roots by his power. He conquers them without
difficulty. He is the white horse rider.
We have already looked at Daniel 9:26: "And after 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself, and the people of the prince that shall
come shall destroy the city." "The prince that shall come" is the rider of the white horse again. It is this same personality.
Then in Revelation 13:1, we read, "and I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns;
and upon his horns, ten crowns; and, upon his heads, the names of blasphemy." That again, is the rider of the white horse. All of these are
referring to the antichrist personality.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4: "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come the falling away first, and that man of
sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sits
in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Paul is saying to the Thessalonians, "That day" (meaning the rapture) cannot arrive (would
not have arrived) unless you have seen the man of sin come on the scene, and place himself as God in the Jews' temple in Jerusalem. If you see that,
then you know that the rapture has passed. If that hasn't happened, the rapture hasn't taken place.
So, the two riders on the white horse are totally different personalities. The rider of Revelation 6:1 symbolizes the antichrist rider. He is the
leader of the movement of Satan's counterfeits program. He is the counterfeit Christ brought to discredit the real Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle John refers to this personality also in his first epistle. 1 John 2:18: "Little children, it is the last time, and you have heard that
antichrist shall come. Even now there are many antichrists by which we know that it is the last time." Antichrist will come. That's the rider of
the white horse.
1 John 2:22 also adds to this: "Who is a liar, but he that knew that Jesus is the Christ?" Jesus is the Messiah to fulfill the Davidic covenant:
"He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Of course, that's precisely what the antichrist will do.
2 John 7: "For many deceivers are entered into the world who do not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the
antichrist." One of the things that will mark the antichrist is that he will deny that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come in human form.
So, we have a writer on the white horse representing a movement of world conquest, summed up in this man who is the antichrist. The white horse
represents a rider who is victorious as a warrior. This is the beginning of the tribulation. The antichrist is launching his brilliant career as
a military conqueror, which will make him into the ruler of the whole world.
In Revelation 6:2, John says, "And I saw, behold, a white horse, and he either sat on him had." The word "had" is the word "echo." "Echo" means "to
possess." This is in present tense, meaning that this was his constant possession. It is active voice. The antichrist himself does the holding. It's
a participle in mood, indicating that a principle is being stated. This man has something in his hand: namely, a "toxon" – a bow. This is the
word for the weapon which is used with arrows – the bow and arrow. In the Bible, it is used as a symbol of military power. Throughout the Old
Testament, the use of the bow and arrow is for military purposes.
For example, in Hosea 1:5, we read, "And it shall come to pass at that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel." What is
he saying? I'm going to destroy their capacity to make war. I'm going to destroy their military ability. And the bow signifies that kind of
military capacity.
We have this also in Jeremiah 51:6: "Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken. Every one of their
bows is broken. For the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite." Here again, military defeat is described as the bows being taken.
So, this rider, having a bow in his hand, indicates that he is in command of armaments of war sufficient to overwhelm his enemies. But you will
notice something interesting. There are no arrows along with the bow. The bow, in other words, is not strung for battle. It doesn't have an arrow
in place for combat. In the Old Testament, when active combat is in view, the arrow is mentioned specifically. That gives us the first clue as to
what this may mean. When you are actually in combat, the bow is described with an arrow.
For example, we see this in numbers 24:8. And remember that we interpret the book of the Revelation on the basis of symbols and usages throughout
the rest of the Bible. That's why it's an understandable book. Numbers 24:8: "God brought him forth out of Egypt. He had, as it were, the strength
of a wild ox. He shall eat up the nations (his enemies), and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows." There, the arrow is
described in active combat as a means of destruction. When you are actually in the process of shedding blood, then the arrow comes into the picture.
Psalm 45:5 says, "Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemy, whereby the people fall under you." Here again, the arrow is mentioned in
connection with what? In connection with actual destruction of life – in actual combat where people are being killed.
Zechariah 9:14 uses the arrow in that respect also: "The Lord shall be seen over them, and His arrow shall go forth like the lightning, and the
Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south." Here, God is described in an act of military destruction by the use of
the term "arrow."
So, what do we have here? In the Bible, when there is actual combat and bloodshed, the arrow is brought into the picture. When there is not, it
just talks about the bow. The bow indicates that you have armaments and you have capacity for making war. You have capacity for battle, but it
indicates that it is not being put into operation. So, the lack of the reference to arrows here in Revelation 6 suggests that the antichrist is
able to conquer without actual bloodshed. That means that he has placed himself in such a position of military superiority that he is able to
blackmail his enemies to yield, or else. And in order to save themselves from utter destruction, they yield.
Dr. Fred Schwartz of the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade has very aptly summed up the principle by which the Russians plan to conquer the
United States. Make no mistake about it: They do plan to conquer the United States. And they plan to do it in a very systematic way. Here is the
formula for the bloodless conquest of the United States. The Russians don't have any intention of destroying the United States by military power.
What they want to do is to preserve everything that we have, and to take it intact. So, the formula that the Russians operate on (which, if you
will learn, it will help you to read your newspapers and understand what's going on in the world) is external encirclement plus internal
demoralization. Get the United States surrounded by communist nations and communist satellites. Establish internal demoralization by breaking down
the moral fiber of the American people, and causing them to abandon the biblical principles of their strength. Then add thermonuclear blackmail.
Have so much superior thermonuclear power over against what the United States could do to cope with it and stop, and this leads to progressive
surrender. This is one little yielding after another, and one little giving in to the Russians after another.
Of course, this is what we have done
for the last 50 years: progressive surrender; giving up; and, give a little bit: "That's not important. Let them have it. Cuba is not important.
Let them go in there. El Salvador is not important. Let them go in there." And gradually, the encirclement is created; the demoralization is taking
place; the thermonuclear superiority is standing there; and, finally, the president of the United States gets a call from the communists that tell
him that they are about to bomb us out of existence unless we surrender. And we can do nothing to keep their weapons from landing on us. Their
missiles can come through.
It is this feature of thermonuclear blackmail that is so critical to the Russian plan for conquering the United States intact that has caused such
consternation over the so-called Star Wars weapons. When the suggestion was seriously propounded now by the president, that we can put laser
weapons out in space which will knock down anything coming toward us from Russia, and you don't have to do anything in outer space except pierce
the shell of whatever is coming, and it'll explode out there. You don't have to detonate. The Russians have gone into a frenzy. They know
that we can do that. This is off-the-shelf technology. Our knowledgeable scientists say all of this is just putting together all the stuff
we already have, and already know how to do. It is just a matter of getting it out there. If we get it out, then we're safe. We don't have to worry
about building up more weapons. They cannot get at us. But the Russians say, "If you do that, you could strike at us first." We could, but we won't.
But that's the formula.
That's what the antichrist ought to do. He's going to come together with some kind of formula where he's got a bow in his hand, but he doesn't have
to put the arrow into it. He doesn't cock the weapon. He doesn't have to shoot anything. He doesn't have to fire anything. He doesn't have to set
anything in motion that's going to shed blood. They're going to knuckle under to him out of fear of what he can do to them.
"I saw, and behold (pay attention), a white horse (a symbol of military conquest), and e that sat on him had a bow." He had the power of conquest.
Let me read you a few paragraphs from the Volume 23 Number 21 newsletter by the Cristian Anti-Communism Crusade. This summarizes this principle of
conquest without shedding blood:
Dr. Schwartz says, "The Communists do not desire a thermonuclear war. They would prefer to conquer the USA without the massive destruction that such
a war would bring. The vision of the destruction of the Soviet Union with the loss of the lives of many communist leaders does not entice them. This
is obvious and needs no elaboration. Neither do the communists desire the destruction of the USA. They are well aware of the magnificent homes,
highways, factories, bridges, skyscrapers, schools, hospitals, and farms that abound in this country. They have coveted them for years, and have
plans for their use. They are convinced that the day when they will acquire them is drawing near. Their Marxist/Leninist doctrines and their survey
of the world situation combine to assure them of this. To transform this limitless treasure into radioactive vapor in these circumstances would be
extreme stupidity. Why then have the Soviet leaders extorted such enormous sacrifice from the Soviet people in order to build their massive military
machine in which nuclear weapons play such a large part?
"The reason is to make the threat that they may initiate a nuclear war credible. Prudent US leaders, when deciding upon national policy, must
always be forced to consider the question of what influence certain policies may have upon the possibility of igniting nuclear war. This limits
the options available to US strategists. Their attitude is: "We would like to do such a thing, but we cannot risk it. This often leads to
operational paralysis."
Then he goes on and points out how this paralysis has been demonstrated again and again in other countries: For example, when the Hungarians
revolted against the Communist master, all they needed was help. Did it come from the United States? Not at all. They went on the air. They gave
their last desperate plea before the Russians came back in and tore the station away from them. They went to the very last second, pleading to the
United States to come in and assist them now. The United States could have done something then. But again, the nuclear blackmail was over our head.
We fear to do it.
We did the same thing with Czechoslovakia rebelled against its masters. Did we come in to help them? No.
The Afghan people are the latest example of it.
We are all enthusiastically standing behind the Polish people and the solidarity movement, but would we come in to help them? No.
In any communist nation, any communist group that seeks to rebel against its slave masters would be foolish to think that we would come in to
assist them.
Well, the result is that a military power with superiority can easily conquer a nation without actually having to come into any combat situation.
There's another thing about this man that we should observe here in closing. That is that John observes that a crown was given to him. Now we have
to see what kind of a crown this is. This is the "stephanos" crown. The "stephanos" crown refers to a victor's crown. It's what an athlete received
when he won a race in the Olympics. It signifies here a military victory which places the antichrist in control of the Western Confederacy of ten
nations. And it says that this victory crown was "given" to him ("didomi"). The word describes receiving something. This crown of victory is handed
over to the communists. It is in the aorist tense. It's the point when all resistance to him ceases. It is passive. It's given to him, which again
confirms that he's got the bow, but he doesn't have to cock it. He doesn't have to put the arrow into it. Somehow, his position of military
superiority is so overwhelming that the nations of that Western Confederacy hand themselves over to him.
This is the result of the attitude of the national leaders toward the antichrist, which is enunciated for us in Revelation 13:4. Here's what the
European leaders will be thinking: "And they worshiped the dragon (that is, Satan) who gave power unto the beast (the antichrist), and they
worshiped the antichrist, saying, 'Who is like the beast (that is, the antichrist)? Who is able to make war with him?" He is in a position where
he can exercise military blackmail, and they don't dare resist him.
So, he is given this "stephanos" crown (this victor's crown) without having to do anything particularly in terms of actual combat. This crown,
incidentally, is in contrast to the crowns that Jesus Christ is wearing, in Revelation 19:11-12, when he returns on a white horse. He has the
diadem crowns; that is, the crowns of a ruling monarch, so it's distinctively different on that account again.
Well, this man, as we shall see, proceeds to go forth; to conquer; and, to achieve an ultimate conquest: namely, world dominion. How does he do that?
There are some amazing things that are taking place in our worldwide society, which we need to stop and briefly alert you to next time. One is the
New Age movement, which is the core of the basis upon which the antichrist will reach his objective of world conquest. Then there are things which
are taking place on the national scene that are absolutely unbelievable, and that are immediately on the horizon. Congress is lying low; political
leaders are lying low; and, they're pussyfooting their way toward the final step of restricting your privacy, and of control over all that you do.
Most Americans are simply going to work; they're simply going to their entertainment; they're simply enjoying their good food; and, they actually
are simply thinking that down the line, they're someday going to send their children to college. Forget it. It's not going to happen.
Next time, we're going to look at some of these movements that are represented by this white horse that are the practical coming to fruition under
our very noses in our very day.
Dr. John E. Danish, 1982
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