Here is my completed assessment of the first 4 riders. I appreciate any feedback and constructive criticism before I present it to my bible study class next Thursday.
The Four Riders of Revelation Chapter 6
The First Seal: Conqueror on a White Horse
6 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as
with a voice of thunder, “Come[
a]!”
2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
The Second Seal: War
3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come[
b]!”
4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that
people would kill one another; and a large sword was given to him.
The Third Seal: Famine
5 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come[
c]!” I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard
something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A [
d]quart of wheat for a [
e]denarius, and three [
f]quarts of barley for a [
g]denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”
The Fourth Seal: Death
7 When
the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come[
h]!”
8 I looked, and behold, [
i]an ashen horse; and the one who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and famine, and [
j]plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.
The Fifth Seal: Martyrs
9 When
the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;
10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O [
k]Lord, holy and true, [
l]will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”
11 And a white robe was given to each of them; and they were told that they were to rest for a little while longer, until
the number of their fellow servants and their brothers
and sisters who were to be killed even as they
had been, was completed also.
The Sixth Seal: Terror
12 And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;
13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.
14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;
16 and they *said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the [
m]sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;
17 for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?
Sources disagree more on the first rider than all the other three put together. One early interpretation was that the first rider was the Lord, coming forth to reap the harvest of believers in the rapture. Most of that interpretation hinges on the fact that this rider is on a white horse which symbolizes purity like the horse that we know for a fact later that John describes Jesus’ riding in Revelation 19: 11-16.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will [
e]rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the [
f]wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
However, upon closer examination, these two riders are very different. The rider in Revelation chapter 6 does not say he is going forward to rapture the church, but to conquest. This rider joins 3 other riders who are clearly negative figures in that they cause famine, war, and death. Why would the Lord Jesus be a part of this first group of otherwise dreadful riders? Why would the Lord need the judgment of other riders or their support if they were simply rapturing the church, and why would Jesus not be riding with Angels instead of riders of horses that represent terrible events in what sounds like tribulation and the start of the wrath of God, and where does Jesus go after this first group is sent? Does Scripture record the Lord coming back to Heaven with his harvest of Humans? Why would the Lord need to be given a victor’s crown, when later in Revelation 19 he already has multiple Holy Crowns? Why didn’t John spell out that the first rider in Revelation 6 was named Word of God and his robe marked King of Kings and Lord of Lords if this first rider is in fact the Lord Jesus Christ? And why a bow instead of the sword of truth or spirit that the Lord has in Revelation 19? Where are the eyes like flames of fire, a robe dipped in blood, and an army following the Lord in Revelation 6? What purpose does the bow have or represent for the first rider, and why does it differ from the rider in Revelation 19?
Various sources claim the first rider is someone other than the Lord Jesus Christ, a member of the four riders that fits more logically with that group causing the beginning of tribulation and judgment upon the earth. One scholar thinks the first rider is a counterfeit Christ known as the Anti-Christ whose conquest is part of taking the peace from the earth at the mid-point of the tribulation. Doesn’t this better fit with the other 3 horsemen? And the bow represents that this rider accomplishes his conquest without military victory, signified by the absence of arrows. Another scholar believes the bow represents the plague or pestilence aspect of the destructive force of the initial 4 riders.
Scholars also disagree on the timing of the release of the 4 riders. Something they are released in the sequence of the seal that is broken one at a time, so the rider on the first white horse proceeds the second rider by some period of time. Others think they all ride as one unit, and that war, pestilence, famine, and death all happen simultaneously as one aggregate judgment to start the great tribulation upon the earth.
I think the weight of the evidence is against the first rider being the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is more likely this rider is an imposter of the Lord, the Little Horn of Daniel 9:24-27, otherwise known as the Antichrist who after making a the peace treaty with Israel breaks the treaty, marches into Israel and in the rebuilt temple declares himself to be God and thus the Lord begins the pouring out of the wrath of God by after the antichrist attacks Israel and breaks the peace treaty at the midpoint of the 7 years. Then the other riders or symbols of war, famine, pestilence, and death all come to judge the people of the earth who were not believers at the time the church was raptured prior to the first seal being broken. Also, if Jesus was out riding with the first four riders, how could He then be back in heaven to break the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9-10?
