The horse is one of God’s most magnificent creatures and has been seen by many as a symbol of freedom and adventure. Standing tall and stout with penetrating eyes of intelligence, the horse has been loved and used throughout all history for companionship, sport, labor, war, and biblical judgment.
In Genesis, Jacob the father of the 12 tribes of Israel, gives his sons a prophetic view of what shall become of them in the last days. It is here the first mention of the horse from the bible comes and speaks of the tribe of Dan, one of the original 12 tribes of Israel from which the Antichrist will arise.
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Genesis 49:1
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. Genesis 49:16-17
From this point forward, the horse will be used as an instrument of war and judgment. Prior to Jacob’s prophetic utterance, we find a similar scenario at the fall of Adam and Eve when the “serpent” is judged.
14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:14-15
The devil bites at the heels of all humans and all have sinned, but soon he shall be bruised. “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Romans 16:20.
As mentioned previously, the horse is a valiant animal and in the Book of Job we see more evidence while God is speaking to Job on various subjects:
19 Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? 20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. 21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. 22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. 23 The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. 24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. 25 He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. Job 39:19-25
Now let’s turn our attention to detail perhaps the most infamous horses in history; the four horses of the seven seal judgments.Appropriately Revelation chapter 6 opens with the beginning of the 7 sealed judgment for 6 is the number of man and the first horse is the white horse of false peace and righteousness.
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 beasts saying, Come and see. 2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. Revelation 6:1-2
This white horse has a rider that has a bow (notice no arrows as he will initially conquer with peace) and was given a crown and goes forth conquering. This is not Jesus as some have proposed, for Jesus is seen prior to this sitting on the throne holding the seven sealed book Rev 5:1 and He comes back with a “sharp sword”, not a bow, besides, whom is worthy to give Jesus a crown? Also notice a “beast” is speaking to the horse and rider and tells them to “come and see”. The beast is one of four, and a special angel called a cherubim, used as guardians of the Lords Throne. You can read about these fascinating beast in Ezekiel chapter 1. Verse 10 reveals they have the same faces as the beast seen in Revelation Eze 1:10. Satan is also a cherubim and before falling from grace in the ancient past, was once the sole guardian of the Throne of God. Looking back at Revelation 4:
6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle
The first beast speaking has the face of a lion. Jesus is seen as a lion from the tribe of Judah, but the devil is also seen as a lion and the rider of this white horse is the Antichrist, a Jewish man from the tribe of Dan who has a Greek and Roman linage, coming to conquer and set up his false empire of peace and righteousness.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1 Peter 5:8
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Revelation 5:5
There is a parallel in Matthew 24 as Jesus provides warnings in which each will have its ultimate occurrence when the four horses ride. 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:4-5.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. Revelation 6:3-4.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:…..Matthew 24:6-7
The rider of this horse is symbolically carrying a sword and is a minister of God that releases the spirit of war and killing upon the earth. The false peace the Antichrist brings will be short lived for he will not be able to maintain control and must fight against other kingdoms. Not only will there be war, but unabated killing in the streets and fields around the world by man and beast. The second seal is a fulfillment of 1Th 5:3.
The second beast has the face of a calf. The calf was used as a sin offering by Aaron in the Old Testament (Lev 9:2), but was first fashioned in an act of disobedience into an idol made of gold. “And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” Exo 32:4.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. Revelation 6:5-6
…..and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. Matthew 24:7
Balances were used to measure produce. A “measure” of wheat is about a liter of grain; ones days ration and a penny is what a Roman soldier was paid for one days work during the life of Christ. Barley will be a third of the cost of wheat. The rider of this horse will spread famine all around the world. A whole days wage during this time will be required to eat a small loaf of bread. The famine will effect the wheat and barley growing areas of the world of which Russia, India, China, and the EU are the major growers, but will not effect the wine and oil regions of the world.
The face of the third beast is that of a man and may represent that man must eat and be fed physically and spiritually lest he die.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:7-8
…..and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. Matthew 24:7
The face of the fourth beast is that of an eagle; the great, swift bird of prey. Death in this passage is synonymous with pestilence as in the Black Death\Bubonic Plague of the middle ages. The rider of this horse brings pestilence with Hell roaring after him and they are given the power to kill with the sword, famine, pestilence, and beast of the earth; the four sore judgments of Eze 14:21. They are given dominion over a fourth part of the physical Earth, not world population. The King James version is very distinct in its word use. One example:
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Gen 1:2
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 2Pe 3:6
Interestingly on a side note, the passage of 2 Peter above was not the flood of Noah since all did not perish as the verse says. Eight people survived that flood to include Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his sons wives, and thousands of animals. “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world…..” Heb 11:7
It is clear the horses in Revelation are used to bring judgment upon the world. Let’s turn to the Old Testament for more evidence.
And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. 2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; 3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses. 4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? 5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. 7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. 8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. Zec. 6:1-8
8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. 9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. 10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. Zec. 1:8-10
Now we will look at the four horses in reference to their colors, but first a close look at the rainbow. The rainbow has a total of seven colors; the same number of spirits of God Rev 4:5.
The middle color of the rainbow is green and represents Jesus, the servant lamp. Jesus is at the center of any Menorah setting be it a 5, 7, or 9 branch Menorah. The Menorah is outside the scope of this writing. Revelation 4:3 says “And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald“. Seven colors are visible in the light spectrum and red is visible at the lower end of the spectrum while blue is at the top. When red, green and blue light are mixed or added together with the proper intensity, white light is obtained. White is not a color but rather the presence of all the frequencies of visible light. White is the color for righteousness: “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” Daniel 12:10.
Red and blue are the predominant colors of the Mosaic Tabernacle while green is absent since the law cannot reconcile man to God. But the green of Jesus can bring together the red of man with the blue of God to produce the white of righteousness.
The first mention of red in the bible is in Genesis 25:25 “And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. Fittingly, Esau is described as red and would grow up to be a warrior and the progenitor of the Edomites and Rome, one of the most warring empires in history. The second seal produces the red horse of war and killing.
And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. Genesis 27:40
The fourth seal brings forth the pale horse. Pale in Greek is “chlorus” or in modern day “chlorophyll”, a pale green color similar but, not like the bright green rainbow around the Throne of God. Perhaps Satan’s color is yellow. Pale green is produced mixing yellow and blue. Light absorbing colors produce negative effects and Lucifer whose name means “light bearer” can only reflect the light from another source as there is no light in him. Mixing equal colors of red (man), yellow(Satan), and blue(God) will produce black; as in the eternal blackness of the Lake of Fire.
And the fifth horse?
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords. Revelation 19:11-16.
It is really simple. All of world history is based on two things; good or evil, black or white, righteousness or unrighteousness. In the first book of the bible before Adam and Eve sinned, good and evil existed. It is an ages old battle between good and evil.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen 2:17
Acts 26:18 says “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
All men will one day stand before Jesus. When you do, will He look upon you with eyes of white righteousness, to live an eternity with Him, or eyes of black wrath, to suffer an eternity of death……
God’s Simple Plan of Salvation
Looking for that Blessed Hope! 