The four horsemen of the first four seals are found elsewhere in the Bible, not just Revelation. Zechariah describes four horses with similar colors and riders. Ezekiel describes four judgments that appear to be the same as our riders in Revelation as well. Together, we can paint a more complete picture of who these riders are and what they do.  The number of horses, their colors, and what their riders carry help clarify who they are and what they do. 

The four horsemen of Zechariah’s Vision

Zechariah mentions four horses of different colors with riders in Zec. 1.  Interestingly, he opens up his prophecy with them, just as John does in Revelation.

The colors are significant, but they change in every passage and they do not show consistency between the Hebrew, Septuagint and English. Red, Black and White are the most common, with red and white in every translation and every passage.  There is a divers horse that ranges from paint, grizzled, “diverse” and speckled.  I would guess that to be our “pale” horse in Revelation.  But KJV translates the word for “pale” as “green” in 3 other passages.  It’s our “horse of a different color” I guess The green/pale does match up with our noisome beast judgment in Ezekiel as it has green living things connotations in the Greek word translated “beast”

The mountains in Zechariah chapter 1 are missing and replaced with myrtle trees which is how the Septuigent reads.  KJV may be referring to the shady place as the place of the trees. Revelation does not mention the mountains in conjunction with the horsemen. 

The horsemen show up again in Zechariah 6 and this time with chariots (again in different orders)  and the mountains are brass.  Brass usually represents judgment, but I will not take time here to provide evidence of that.  Zechariah gives a description of the duties and purposes of these horsemen:

So here it appears that the horsemen patrol the entire earth and quiet the spirit of God by judging the transgressions.  Ezekiel will shed light that these are actually judgments. Ezekiel does not mention horses or riders, but speaks of the four judgments which sound very similar to our Revelation riders who we know are executing judgments.

The Four Judgments of Ezekiel

Vs. 21 and following I believe are our four Revelation horsemen.

The Four Angels in Enoch

Enoch speaks of four men, and following the format seen in Zechariah, one leads the other three.  This is an allegory, in Enoch and the four men represent angels and the peoples and nations are represented by different animals. In this allegory, one of the four men gave the animals a sword to kill (the sword is one of the four judgments in Ezekiel) and the angel which went first bound up the stars (which represent the fallen angels also described as having a form like horses).

There are four angels which stand before the Lord listed in Enoch chapter 40

Perhaps these are our four horsemen with Michael as their leader. I suppose we shall find out when we get there!

The Four Horsemen are Executors of Judgment

It is my opinion that these angels have been going throughout the earth with judgments of sword, pestilence, death and famine at least since the dividing of nations in Babel.  Their purpose is to appease the wrath of God by sending hard times on sinful nations in order to provoke them to repentence. Once they repent, the wrath of God is appeased. In that respect it is a form of mercy, keeping the nations from a worse fate.  It is always God’s purpose to redeem mankind back to himself.  

Evidence of this can be seen in the account where David sins in  numbering the people and is given a choice what the judgment should be.  He is given three of the four judgments listed in Ezekiel to choose from: famine, pestilence, or war.  An angel is sent to deliver the judgment of pestilence and is stopped when the people repent.  

In Numbers, a plague was stayed when the leaders of Israel brought an Israelite man to judgment who was committing fornication openly and in public with a Midianite woman, presumably as a ceremony to Baal.  Again there was judgment by a plague that was stopped once the people repented.

There are  other instances where angels are smiting sinners.  The death of the firstborn in Egypt, Sennacharib’s army in II Kings, and the followers of Korah (I Cor 10:10).

If what Paul says, that evil men shall ‘wax worse and worse” in the end times, it only makes sense that the horsemen would be busy in the last days bringing judgments to entice sinners to repentence.  However, in the last days, instead of nations repenting, they begin to martyr God’s people.  The fifth seal shows that mankind has progressed from its regular form of evil to apocalyptic evil. It is upon this response to the merciful judgments of God that the remnant is removed (the sixth seal) and the judgment trumpets are sounded.

I believe the first horseman has already begun his circuit. The horse signifies a peaceful or righteous element because it is white, and the rider has possession of authority (the crown) and a weapon (the bow), and we are told straight forward he has an intent to conquer. At the onset of Covid, people all over the world were locked down and oppressed in ways that previously had only been isolated. But now, there is a world wide implement of, in their own words, “draconian measures”. These measures harshly drawn in the name of keeping people safe and for the greater good (your white horse) Most of these measures were passed by politicians who did not hold the authority by law to pass or enforce them, but were bestowed special powers by emergency edicts that over rode normal rule of law. This is not just the case in the United States, but in countries all over the world.

The fact that these characteristics are consistent in countries all over the world are a sign that this is no ordinary judgment. The horsemen usually are sent to an isolated people. But in Revelation, all four are sent all over the world. Any judgment going out over the entire world is certainly worth analyzing with end time prophecies to see if there is anything that fits the bill.

It is the onset of covid that caused the Passover / Lord’s Supper / Communion to be cancelled (a significant match for Daniel’s “ceasing of the sacrifices”)

Because the fourth horseman is Death, I don’t think that the first three horsemen will be specifically characterized by death, but that death will be brought on as a result of the first three horsemen a little later. That is why we do not see a lot of death and sickness, but PERCEIVED by falsified numbers and exaggerated statistics.  That could be why there is mention of a bow, but no quiver or arrows, and why the horseman is not one coming with pestilence, but to conquer only.

The first of the four horsemen a rider with a crown and a bow riding upon a white horse.

I think it is significant that the phrase “a crown was given to him”.  Not like it was HIS crown, but like Haman in the story of Ester who works on behalf of the king was given the kings signet.  I think it indicates that the one conquering is not doing it by his own power, but by the authority of another.  In Daniel’s revelation, the sanctuary is polluted by the “arms” of the ruler.  By order of the ruler’s proxies.

Biblically, white is an interesting color. In our day, it is immediately associated with cleanliness and purity, as all advertisers know: Marketing a cleanser that is itself white or comes in predominantly white packaging helps to convince the consumer that the product is effective. However, an ancient Israelite might not see white that way. In Leviticus, white appears as the color of leprosy more than a dozen times (see, for instance, Leviticus 13:3). In Genesis 40:16, white baskets presage the death of Pharaoh’s baker, and in Joel 1:7, it is the color of a land stripped bare by an enemy.

Conversely, at other times it represents the more positive associations we are accustomed to. In Ecclesiastes 9:8, Solomon writes, “Let your garments always be white,” which most commentators feel refers to the joy, purity, and beauty of a righteous, godly individual. The Shulamite describes her Beloved, a type of Christ, as “white” (Song of Songs 5:10), implying His spotless and holy character. Similarly, Daniel sees “the Ancient of Days” clothed in a garment “white as snow” and with hair “like pure wool” (Daniel 7:9), reminiscent of John’s description of the glorified Christ in Revelation 1:13-16.

In the book of Revelation itself, white is predominantly positive in meaning, as most of its appearances describe God, Christ, glorified saints, or associated objects like the Great White Throne. Overall, white suggests purity, righteousness, holiness, glory, victory, and perfection. This preponderance of positive, symbolic meanings for the color white—without considering the mainly negative aspects of the other symbols—has led many interpreters to misidentify this horseman as a positive, even divine, image.

For starters, the white horseman carries a bow, a weapon of war. Strangely, John makes no mention of arrows or a quiver, although we may infer the former, since a bow is nearly worthless without arrows. (Then again, the lack of arrows may suggest war fought, not with blood-letting weapons, but with words or ideas; see Psalm 11:2; 64:2-4; Jeremiah 9:8; Ephesians 6:16.) A bow is a purely offensive weapon, even more so than a sword, and is highly effective from long range (for example, archers killed Uriah the Hittite and kings Ahab of Israel and Josiah of Judah). Thus, the foremost idea behind this biblical symbol is powerful, penetrating, deadly accuracy with an intimation of distance.

A sidelight of the bow’s imagery is the frequency of its use as a symbol of God’s judgment. Job complains, “His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with wound upon wound” (Job 16:13-14; see also Lamentations 2:4; 3:12-13; Jeremiah 50:9, 14, 29; 51:3).

The white horseman’s bow, then, represents an effective instrument of God’s judgment on the world for rebellion against Him. Unlike the sword that Christ wields (Revelation 19:15), the bow’s long range hints at God being somewhat removed in His judgment, yet it is just as devastating in its effectiveness at meting out justice. In addition, whereas the sword symbolizes the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12)—His truth—the bow suggests a counterfeit “truth” or a false gospel. As II Thessalonians 2:11-12 says, “God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Of course hind sight is 2020, no pun intended. And the greek word for bow is actually TOXON from which we get our word “toxin and toxic” Here is your fun fact: toxic (adj.) 1660s, from French toxique and directly from Late Latin toxicus “poisoned,” from Latin toxicum “poison,” from Greek toxikon (pharmakon) “(poison) for use on arrows,” from toxikon, neuter of toxikos “pertaining to arrows or archery,” and thus to a bow, from toxon “bow,” probably from a Scythian word that also was borrowed into Latin as taxus “yew.” Watkins suggests a possible source in Iranian taxša- “bow,” from PIE *tekw- “to run, flee.” As a noun from 1890. Toxic waste is by 1888 in medicine, “toxin;” by 1955 as “chemical or radioactive waste.” That leaves no question in my mind that the vaccine is part of the first horseman.

The rider of the white horse is given a crown to wear, after which he goes “out conquering and to conquer.” These two symbols are related both in their proximity in the verse and in their meanings. First, the word order suggests that being endowed with a crown allows or authorizes the horseman to go to war. Who gives him this crown? Notice Romans 13:1: “For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” An angel tells Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:17, “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.” God is sovereign over all earthly authority, and it is from Him that this horseman receives his crown and purpose.

Second, crowns generally represent some state of honor or blessing for the wearer. We normally associate crowns with royalty, which in Classical Greek is represented by the word diadema, which has come down to us as “diadem.” The word in Revelation 6:2, however, is stéfanos, a circlet, wreath, or garland, oftentimes made of leaves and twigs but sometimes of precious metals. It was awarded as a prize of victory or triumph, as a symbol of honor or authority, as a badge of civic worth or military valor, or as a sign of nuptial joy or festal gladness. Due to the verse’s heavy martial emphasis, it is likely that the horseman’s crown signifies triumph, authority, or military valor.

Third, this horseman goes “out conquering and to conquer,” a fairly literal rendering of the Greek. To us, this phraseology sounds strange, but it is merely expressing two different tenses of the same verb (nikao, “conquer,” “subdue,” “overcome,” “prevail,” “get the victory”): the present participle and the aorist subjunctive. In other words, John is telling us that the horseman begins and continues to conquer, and he will certainly conquer or will ultimately conquer (see A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament on this verse). The implication is that his entire purpose is to conquer, to dominate, to subjugate the peoples of the earth.

Overall, the white horse and its rider are vivid representations of a powerful, aggressive, victorious force running unrestrained over mankind. Like a knight in armor or a soldier in full dress uniform, the first horseman appears to the eye as glorious and noble, but its intent is to kill, destroy, and subdue its enemies. Its white façade is deceptive, concealing a deadly, unholy purpose.

These interpretations of the symbols may seem highly speculative and arbitrary until we unlock their mystery with the key supplied by Jesus Christ Himself in the Olivet Prophecy. In a series of four verses, He decodes the meanings of the Four Horsemen. Of the white horseman, He says: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5; see Mark 13:5-6; Luke 21:8). The white horse and its rider represent religious deception.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Four Horsemen (Part Two): The White Horse