Originally posted by AshleyD
I strongly disagree that the rider on the white horse is Jesus but is instead, almost certainly, the Antichrist.
i have abit of a problem with antichrist prophecies.
1 john 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we
know that it is the last time. [22] Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the
Son.
1 john 4:[3] And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof
ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
2 john 1:[7] For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an
antichrist.
john is the only one who mentions the "antichrist", and he does so specifically to explain that the antichrist is anyone who decieves, or tries to
work against jesus and god.
john wrote these letters after revelation (revelations was the first book he wrote), so likely john's opinion wasnt influenced by him seeing the
white rider. however that could be possibly because he himself may not have known who the white rider was.
i tend to take antichrist prophecies with a grain of salt. people seem to really want a singular antichrist to come, even though many have been and
will be antichrists.
the word used for the white rider's crown is stephanons, signifying governmental power/rulership or victory. However, the word used for
Jesus' crown throughout scripture is diadem, signifying exalted, kingly status and royalty. This rider on the white horse is not wearing the
Jesus' style of crown.
this doesnt necessarily disqualify jesus as the identity of the rider. the stephanos were also given to those who won races. jesus wore a
"stephanos" of thorns (matt 27:29). those who are faithful receive the "crown of life" (james 1:12)
1 peter 5:4 - you will receive the "crown of glory" that will not fade away
rev 2:10 - (jesus talking to the congregation) Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.
rev 3:11 - I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.
rev 14:14 - I looked, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a
sharp sickle.
all the above example use "stephanos" instead of "diadem". rev 14:14 definitely refers to jesus, because jesus even called himself "son of man".
even the context of 14 doesnt allow for him to be an antichrist.
my point - i think too much emphasis is put on the fact that rev 6:2 is a different crown. jesus did run the race and died faithful to god. he said he
"conquered the world" (figuratively) and that we could too if we are faithful. its not that far fetched that he would be described with a
stephanos
And in Revelation 13 where the Great Tribulation begins, we’re told that He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.
And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. (Rev. 13:7) Why would Jesus make war with the tribulation saints to conquer
them? Like I said, while he fools people into thinking he’s the Christ, he’s really the anti-Christ.
ok, first thing, he is saying that jesus cant be the rider because he has a different crown, but then he somehow connects the rider to the beast, but
ignores the fact that the beast is also wearing diadems. im not sure exactly how he is making that connection.
second. the beast of 13 is not a person.
if you cross-reference revelations with other books of the bible, you can see were the symbolism comes from.
rev 13 can be cross referenced with daniel 7. daniel describes 4 "beasts" who ascend from the "sea". verse 17 says that the beasts were "kings".
some commentaries point out that its not just an individual king, but the kingdom itself.
rev 13 is describing a beast that looks like a bunch of beasts put together. connecting the worlds governments with the white horse rider doesnt quite
connect in my mind.
Also, the weapon Jesus is always associated with is the sword but this white horseman is depicted as carrying a bow with no arrows. This
signifies the fact he will arrive on the scene claiming to be peaceful yet he will be anything but.
it doesnt actually say that he doesnt have arrows does it? it just neglects to mention them. the scripture does say that he goes conquering. i know i
wouldnt conquer much with a bow and no arrows. i actually dont fully understand how the author of the site you quoted comes to the conclusion that
there are no arrows.
as for the why of a bow and no sword? well, my guess would be the type of interaction this conquerer has with his prey. its from afar. if this does
occur in the past, then it makes sense that he would have work to do before the final war of armageddon. i speak of the preaching work. in this
respect too, he is "conquering" the world in that right hearted people find the truth and are able to "conquer the world" themselves. he of course
is doing this while still permitting the world rulers to have their day. (dan 7:25-28)
Also remember the Old Testament prophecies stating the contrast of the true Messiah's appearance and the false Messiah. One example would be
the good shepherd vs. the evil shepherd. While Jesus is the actual, good rider on the white horse, the Antichrist will be an impostor on a white
horse. The white horse, bow but no arrow, and victor's crown show that this rider will be an impostor who brings false peace and is only a
pretender.
actually he talks about many false prophets (plural). matt 7:15; 24:11,24 mark 13:22
however, there is another reason that i dont believe that the rider is the antichrist.
if you look at the 4 riders, they are symbolic of events not people. war is not a person, but rather something that would happen during his ride. etc
etc
the first horseman i think represents jesus, but in a way that its telling us what he's going to do. does that make sense?
if you look at matt 24, jesus decribes his "parousia" or presence (the chapter latter talks about his coming). he lists things like wars and
catastrophes. but look at verse 14. in the middle of all this gloom and doom, the one positive thing is that the preaching work will be finished.
i think that the ride of the white horse represents that "conquering". jesus is not only supervising the preaching work (28:19 is the commandment,
verse 20 he says "i am with you until the end of the days"), but he is also conquering as he is reaping the harvest (rev14) of holy ones, and
preparing for armageddon. conquering in that satan, no matter how hard he tries, cannot stop jesus.
