6:1-2 Who is the rider on the white horse here?
6:1-2 Who is the rider on the white horse here?
Many in the church think that the rider on the white horse here is Jesus, but that is not correct because Jesus is opening the seals; He would not be the contents of the seals and open them as well. Furthermore, Jesus is symbolized here by a lamb, not a horseman (cp Re 5:1-9).
The rider on the white horse is Antichrist. The opening of the first seal and the revelation of the rider on the white horse are synonymous with the first half of Daniel's seventieth week prophesied in the Old Testament.
The seventieth week of Daniel represents the last seven years of this age when Antichrist is revealed and the tribulation comes upon the earth. Antichrist rises up at the start of this period and enters into a seven year peace treaty with Israel which he breaks after three and a half years, and then makes war himself with Israel (cp Dan 7:7-8, 20-21, 24-25; 8:8-13, 23-25; 11:36-45, 9:24-27; Rev 12:13-17).
These scriptures symbolize the emergence of Antichrist at the start of Daniel's seventieth week as the little horn among the other ten horns. He rises to power as the eleventh king among the other ten kings through the empowering of Satan, "... and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and holy people" (cp Dan 8:24 with 2Th 2:8-9; Rev 13:1-8). Antichrist is the one who it was prophesied would go forth "conquering and to conquer" in Rev 6:2, not Christ.
The white horse of Rev 6:2 is not to be confused with the white horse of Re 19:11. The horse in Re 6:2 is only symbolic whereas the horse in Re 19:11 is literal. Christ is the rider on the white horse in Re 19:11, but until then He is symbolized by a lamb (cp Rev 19:11-13). There are no scriptures whatever to corroborate any teaching that Christ is symbolized by the rider on the white horse in Rev 6:2 who went forth "conquering and to conquer". Antichrist was given a crown because he had brought peace and prosperity to the earth. He has a bow but no arrows, which depicts him as a benevolent dictator. We know he brought peace to the earth in V2 because in V4 after the opening of the second seal, he is given power to take it away (cp Rev 6:3-4).
As we saw previously, this power comes from Satan. The opening of the second seal in Rev 6:3 and the revelation of the rider on the red horse and the events that followed in V4 signalled the onset of the great tribulation in the middle of Antichrist's reign. This is synonymous with the second half of Daniel's seventieth week (cp Dan 7:25; 9:27; 11:36-39; 12:1; Mt 24:6-7, 15-22).
We learn from all this that the tribulation will occupy the last three and a half years of Antichrist's seven year reign. For the first three and a half years he is a benevolent dictator, not yet the enemy of God. He becomes God's enemy at the end of the first three and a half years when he breaks his peace treaty with Israel and sets up the "abomination of desolation" in the temple (cp Dan 9:27; 11:31, 36-37; 12:11; Mt 24:15; Mk 13:14).
Abomination of desolation means "the abomination that desolates or appals". Here it refers to the image Antichrist had set up of himself as God in the temple, which people were forced to worship, or be killed (cp 2Th 2:3-4; Rev 13:1-6, 11-15). See also comments on Mt 24:1-3; Jn 5:43; Rev 13:1-7, 14:14-16, 16:16, 19:11-21.