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Revelation 6:2
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2 And [kai] I saw, [eido] and [kai] behold [idou] a white [leukos] horse: [hippos] and [kai] he that sat [kathemai] on [epi] him [autos] had [echo] a bow; [toxon] and [kai] a crown [stephanos] was given [didomi] unto him: [autos] and [kai] he went forth [exerchomai] conquering, [nikao] and [kai] to [hina] conquer. [nikao] KJV-Interlinear
2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer. NASB
We have been viewing the scene in heaven, where there is continuity and peace as never experienced by anyone in human history. As the first seal is removed, the scene shifts to earth, and the events that are going to take place there. The scene reveals one who is sitting on a white horse.
Christ is in heaven opening the scroll, so He cannot be the one who is on the earth and on this particular white horse. Christ’s return will be at the second advent, which will occur at the end of the Tribulation, and in that time, there will be a massive judgment of evil, not the utopia implied here.
Three white horses are depicted in Revelation. This single white horse here in Rev. 6:2, and the one in Rev. 19:11, and an army riding white horses as well in Rev. 19. That army is you and me and all believers from the Church Age. We are royalty and royalty rides into battle, it never walks.
And by the way, since we are in heaven, where we have to be in order to return with Christ, then we cannot be on the earth. It would not make any sense to whisk us away at the end of the Tribulation just to bring us immediately back. That would leave no room for our resurrection, our Judgment Seat of Christ, our glorification, the wedding feast, and so forth. Plus, martyred Tribulation believers would have to be sorted out from the Royal Family, and that would all have to happen in an instant. And of course it does not happen that way.
As for the white horse here listed, there is a definite contrast to that of Christ in chapter 19. Here we have the false-christ, or as many call him, the anti-christ. Remember that we are here looking at the overall and general history of the Tribulation, a worldwide view if you will. In chapter 12, a more specific view, will be the approach in the revelation of the Tribulational years.
Beginning in chapter 12, we see the overall view of the angelic conflict. The dragon, Satan, taking with him 1/3 rd of the angelic realm. His attack on Christ, even as an infant and His continued attack on Gods family - believers in general and Jews in particular. And Satan will still be continuing his attack on the Jews of the Tribulation as well as believers in general all over the world.
The objective? To destroy Jerusalem and all believing Jews therein. Christ has promised to return to rescue them, and if Satan can prevent God from fulfilling even one promise, then he has proven God to be with error and therefore win the angelic conflict.
Of course this is not going to happen. God is perfect and error free.
There will be three major players on earth during the Tribulation. The dragon is of course the devil, Satan, and formerly known as Lucifer. He will be cast out of heaven, by the angel Michael, at the mid point of the tribulation and cast down onto earth, where he will become very angry and enraged at his failing position.
The second person is the anti-christ, the leader of the revived Roman empire as it is often times called. This is the leader of the ten nation group that will be conquered by this anti-christ. In one nation he will rise up and overpowering with force, three nations as the remaining seven nations submit to his authority. He will be referred to in Revelation as the beast.
The third person is the second beast, the leader of the religion of the Tribulation, a leader rising out of Israel. He will support the anti-christ and will build an idol of his image and demand that all bow down to it (the image). These two people are extremely evil people. Think of Hitler, and now think of Hitler as being an extremely brilliant thinker with a very high IQ, and you will have a picture of these two people. Brilliant, yet deceptive and corrupt to the core. They will have no morals, no conscience.
Now we have the first horse, a white horse. Often we will think of the white horse, the white hat, as the good guy, the knight in shining armor. And onto the scene comes this knight. Just as after World War 1, the problems in Germany gave way to the deceptions of the Nazi's in the nineteen-thirty’s, so too this will be an example of a leader promising everything, and promising everything to a world that is in the middle of trouble.
Remember that at the end or in the last generation of our dispensation, the Church Age, there will rise a great apostasy across the world. That will lead to trouble and turmoil, and people will be desperate for a hero. The Rapture will occur, and onto the scene comes this evil person known in the Bible as the anti-christ.
When does this occur? After the rapture has already taken place. What will the world be like when that occurs? That is a tough question to answer because we do not know when the rapture will occur. But we can use some hypothetical logic. If the rapture occurs near the end of this coming century, then we know that the world will have a huge population. If there are 20 or 30 or 50 billion people then the stresses that, that size of population will have on the planet, should be obvious.
Look at the world today. Trouble in the Balkans, trouble in Africa, economic problems always hampering trade between nations, even trade within a given nation. Unemployment here and there, inflation or recession here and there, traffic congestion, public services shortages, domestic problems, crime problems, the list goes on. So if our trouble can be magnified 4 or 5 fold, then we will have a pretty good picture of what things might be like in the future.
Now the rapture. All believers in the world are instantly removed. What will that impact be? Possibly none. The Church Age is over and God has determined that the Royal Family's number is complete. Sodom was not destroyed until Lot had left the city, but he was only one person along with his family of a wife and two daughters. It could very well be that there will be such a small population of believers in the world, that the impact on such a huge population will be next to nothing. Of course this is only speculation on my part.
Of course if there are a lot of believers, then this event will be definitely noticed, however, I think that the appeal of this anti-christ will be greater because of the problems of the world and that the rapture will generally go unnoticed, except in certain cases. Needless to say, believers who have left the scene, will probably be blamed for the trouble, whatever it is.
The crown is a false crown, the bow is a false bow. This anti-christ is given power to deceive and to take power by virtue of his words and perceived position and power, not from his real power which is false. The weak leaders of the ten nations are placed there, in their positions of power for only one reason, and that is to give their power over to the anti-christ. Take note of this in Rev. 17:13, where we have the explanation of these kings and their downfall.
As our dispensation continues, and as apostasy rises, then leadership and those selecting it, will be weak, incompetent, and unqualified to lead or to elect.
God often raises up a single person in history, to perform a single act. Sometimes this act could lead to the invention of some type of innovative tool or technology, or sometimes this act could be the catalyst to lead an otherwise cowardly people to victory. Whatever the call of a person in life, there is always a purpose for each person's being here, and at the specific time in history that any of us happen to live.
So even you have a purpose for your life, despite the fact that you might see yourself as sort of worthless at any given moment in life. But then God raises up and uses prepared believers. There is really nothing for you to do other than the, getting prepared, portion of your life - a daily Bible study. God will do all the rest.
You may live your entire life before you realize why you were brought into this world. But you do have a purpose just as this anti-christ has a purpose. The world is negative toward God and ripe for deception. Many are negative prior to the rapture, but will turn positive and believe in Christ, after the rapture.
Whatever the case, there will be a great deception. Christ returns on a white war horse with sword (real power) in hand and with the judgment of righteousness (real authority). Christ will come with many titles and names.
This anti-christ has no name. He will have pleasing words for the public, but in the background of politics and military he will carry threats of destruction. The cowards will fall to his authority. Some will resist, but they will lose during the initial phase of the Tribulation. His bow (false power), will defeat a very weak people.
One more quick thought. Look briefly at the first verse of chapter seven. Angels will be holding back the winds of destruction against the earth. With the believing population gone at the rapture, the salt of the earth, those who preserve it will be gone, and thus the deterioration of the planet will begin to develop rapidly.
If you leave meat on the counter, it goes bad, slowly at first then rapidly. So it will be with the earth. No preservative, therefore rapid decay. But God orders the holding of this decay so that this seven year period will come to its proper conclusion. There will be many who will believe in Christ during this time, and God will give them all that opportunity before that final chapter of history closes everything. Just as the torments of the period will be intense, so too will be the intensity of evangelism.
The winds of heaven are the real drivers of history (Christ). The winds of earth, are the impotent attempts of humanity to drive history.
This rider of the white horse, will have a bow that he takes for himself. He has a crown, which he takes for himself. He neither earns them nor deserves them. He has no qualifications for leadership, but has all of the personality to deceive the masses.
Anytime an unqualified person rises to power, that becomes a recipe for disaster. And disaster brings turmoil and suffering for masses of people.
His conquering will not be by superior strategy or tactics, but because of a weak and cowardly people who will give up easily.
His (the anti-christs’) first impression is a false one. He comes as a hero, but is really a villain.
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