Contrary to popular belief the rider of the white horse is not a spirit that is from the future. The book of Revelation is written to the Jews for the purpose of revealing what would happen to them and their nation. If you have been following this series, you would have note that these are events which happened from AD66-70.
Here are some things which are mentioned about the white horse rider.
Revelation 6:2
2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
He was given a crown.
Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide and plunged Rome into a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. After Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became the third emperor in April 69. The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, emperor on 1 July 69.[4] In his bid for imperial power, Vespasian joined forces with Mucianus, the governor of Syria, and Primus, a general in Pannonia, leaving his son Titus to command the besieging forces at Jerusalem. Primus and Mucianus led the Flavian forces against Vitellius, while Vespasian took control of Egypt. On 20 December 69, Vitellius was defeated, and the following day Vespasian was declared Emperor by the Roman Senate. Vespasian dated his tribunician years from 1 July, substituting the acts of Rome’s senate and people as the legal basis for his appointment with the declaration of his legions, and transforming his legions into an electoral college.
He was made a king by the Senate.
He held a bow not a sword.
Note this was what was written about him “He pulled back the string of his hunting BOW and brought the fletched end of the arrow to his cheek, ready to release. Hardly daring to breathe he took another couple of steps forward and peered around, looking through gaps between the crowded trees for any sign of dun coloured fur in amongst the umber and russet hues of a forest in winter.”
He was a well-known hunter.
While he had the distinction of given the job to lay Jerusalem to waste he did not. This means while he had the power to kill, he stopped. His son was given the sword. He is the rider of the red horse. He was called back from Jerusalem to take his crown. His job of defeating Jerusalem was given to his son Titus.
He rode out as a conquerer bent on a conquest.
The Siege of Yodfat (Hebrew: יוֹדְפַת, also Jotapata, Iotapata, Yodefat) was a 47 day siege by Roman forces of the Jewish town of Yodfat which took place in 67 CE, during the Great Revolt. Led by Roman General Vespasian and his son Titus, both future emperors, the siege ended with the sacking of the town, the deaths of most of its inhabitants and the enslavement of the rest. It was the second bloodiest battle of the revolt, surpassed only by the sacking of Jerusalem, and the longest bar Jerusalem and Masada. The siege was chronicled by Josephus, who had personally commanded the Jewish forces at Yodfat and was subsequently captured by the Romans.
In addition to the uprising in Egypt, unrest and civil war continued in the rest of the empire in 70. In Judea, rebellion had continued from 66. Vespasian’s son, Titus, finally subdued the rebellion with the capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70. According to Eusebius, Vespasian then ordered all descendants of the royal line of David to be hunted down, causing the Jews to be persecuted from province to province. Several modern historians have suggested that Vespasian, already having been told by Josephus that he was prophesied to become emperor whilst in Judaea, was probably reacting to other widely known Messianic prophecies circulating at the time, to suppress any rival claimants arising from that dynasty.
We will discuss about the rider on the red horse next.
Decluttering Religion. 