Hosea

vinsight4u said:

Did you know that chapter 1 is showing a bow is linked to the rise and fall of a kingdom?


1:4
"...I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel."

v6
"And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel."

cause to cease the kingdom
break the bow of Israel

v6 "...I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel..."


The bow can also be used to show the rise and fall of other nations, such as Elam.

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The referent for "the bow" as well as "arrows" metaphorically represents how God deals with people and nations. For instance:

Psalm 7:12, 13:
12 If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready.
13He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.

Psalm 21:11-13:
11 Though they intended evil against You And devised a plot, They will not succeed.
12 For You will make them turn their back; You will aim with Your bowstrings at their faces.
13Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength;We will sing and praise Your power.

Psalm 45:4, 5:
4 And in Your majesty ride on victoriously, For the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; Let Your right hand teach You awesome things.
5Yourarrows are sharp;The peoples fall under You;Your arrows are in the heart of the King’s enemies.

Jeremiah 51:11:
11Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers!The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for His templ

This is further why the white horse rider is not antichrist in Rev 6:1, 2. It is Christ after His resurrection! Jesus now has the bow!!! He has been crowned by the Father after conquering sin and death! Through the church He is now continues to conquer by the gospel!

vinsight4u said:

Hi ebedmelech,

One reason that I have not seen the rider as being Jesus Christ for the time of the first seal is because John does not seem to tie the crown in Rev. 14 to the same one seen at the time of the first seal.

a crown- did not become - the crown
Instead, chapter 14 seems to show John a new type of crown on the One that reaps the earth.

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I think the key is in the statement "a crown was given him".

The problem with this passage is in the translation. No translation capitalizes the pronoun "him", so one has to consider this passage based on what the scriptures say of Jesus. My take comes from Psalm 8:5:
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!

This is repeated of Christ Hebrews 2:7...so we see Christ was given the crown of glory and honor by the Father.

So we have;

*The white horse - The symbol of purity.

*The bow - symbol of warfare (spiritual warfare).

*The crown - which God gave to Christ upon his resurrection.

*He goes forth conquering (sin and death by the cross and in each believer), and to conquer (through His church).

Paul has said of believers in Romans 8:37-39:
37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is why I hold the white horse rider to be Christ.

who else could it be?

Interplanner said:

who else could it be?

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There are many who hold that the white horse rider of Rev 6:1, 2 to be antichrist.

they need to watch LORD OF THE RINGS more often

Interplanner said:

they need to watch LORD OF THE RINGS more often

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LOL!

The thing here is I have to admit I continue to evaluate Rev 6:1, 2 because I thingk the white horse rider could also represent the church only...we are a "royal priesthood".

One thing I do know...the white horse rider is NOT ainti-christ!