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44 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

True Christianity is very far from being a failure, as many would like to think; nor has the
energy with which it was launched in the early days of this era dissipated -- it is energized by the
spirit of YEHOVAH God. Nor is there any possibility of failure here because the rider of the white
horse went forth winning victories everywhere at the beginning, and with the certainty also of a
COMPLETE TRIUMPH at the end -- “conquering, and to conquer.”

Chapter 5 of the book of Revelation shows us the risen Messiah ascending the throne room
of YEHOVAH God and sitting at His right hand to share in the sovereignty of the universe. It
follows that since the very purpose for which he offered himself as a sacrifice was for “the sins of
the world,” then the first exercise of his kingly authority would be the sending forth of
YEHOVAH’s message of salvation into the very world which he had died to save.

All of this agrees perfectly with the Messiah’s parting words and instructions to his
disciples, by whom that message was to be carried into the world: “Thus,” he told them, “it is
written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
and” -- the very next thing it should be noted -- “that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in his name to all nations.” And, furthermore, for this worldwide mission they were
shortly to be “endued with POWER FROM ON HIGH” (the holy spirit -- Luke 24:46-49).

The very next thing after the enthronement of Yeshua the Messiah in heaven was the
coming down of “power from on high,” in the form of the holy spirit or power of YEHOVAH for
the very purpose of energizing the mission of preaching the gospel to the world -- which mission is
NOT YET fully accomplished.

The color of the horse -- WHITE -- bears strong testimony to this because, as we have
already pointed out, this color is used exclusively throughout the Bible to designate things DIVINE
and PURE. There is absolutely NO REASON for assuming we have an exception here -- and an
exception so great as to reverse the meaning of the symbol, as many in the Churches of God believe
today. Not only that, but the evidence for this is raised from the level of high probability to that of
VIRTUAL CERTAINTY by the fact that when YEHOVAH God issues forth out of heaven to fulfil
the words “and to conquer” (Revelation 19:11), He will come riding a WHITE HORSE: “Then I
saw heaven opened, and behold, A WHITE HORSE. And He who sat on him...” The words italicized
are identical to those of Revelation 6:2. It is simply not conceivable that this identity of language
could have had any other purpose than to reveal the IDENTITY of the subject.

Could anything be plainer than the fact that the end of YEHOVAH’s war and victory in
Chapter 19:11 corresponds with its beginning here in Chapter 6:2? Those who make the rider of the
white horse a symbol of the Antichrist of the last days, or of false religion -- thereby REVERSING
the meaning of the symbol which the holy spirit has employed here -- realize of course that the
COLOR of the horse completely CONTRADICTS their interpretation. They say (with no proof
whatsoever to support it) that the Antichrist appears on a white horse in imitation of YEHOVAH
God; but this is not dealing fairly or intelligently with the symbols. These symbols have, in every
case, a Divine fitness, ascertainable from the Bible itself, to express pictorially the thing or event
they are intended to represent.

The Berean Voice September-October 2002