Why is Jesus going to return on a white horse?

But now we have another scene. It is no longer what is going on above, but heaven is open: "And behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth he judge and make war." It is not a door opened in heaven, nor the prophet caught up there, as we have seen in Revelation 4. Nor is it anything that had been done then or there. But now heaven is open, and the symbol of the power appears which comes to subdue the earth, not without the signs of victory. The horse is always the symbol of power connected with the earth; and it has the colour of prosperity. It is a white horse. None, I trust, would be so foolish as to imagine that, when this blessed scene really comes, it will be a question of horses literally. It is the symbol that passed before the eye of the prophet, employed to show certain realities that will take place by and by. Heaven is seen opened for the purpose of victory over the earth. And the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is plainly referred to as the rider: He is the one who directs the power — "He that sitteth on him [called] Faithful and True, and in righteousness doth he judge and make war" (verse 11). This is the subject of the chapter. In the next chapter it is not a white horse that is seen, but a throne, which is the symbol of another character altogether. The throne is for rule, not conquest: the horse is for conquest, not a reign. The Lord Jesus is here seen putting forth His power to put down His enemies; as in Revelation 20 we have the picture of His reign.

Then heaven is opened, and for a sight most solemn. It is not now the temple opened there, and the ark of the covenant seen when Israel's security is seen, as the object of God's counsels; nor is it a door opened above, as we saw it when the prophet was giving his introduction to the prophecy of God's dealings with the world as a whole, though in both cases all manifestly clusters round the Lord Jesus. But now heaven is opened for yet graver facts, and of incalculable moment for man and the universe and the enemy. It is Christ Himself about to be displayed in His rights as King of kings, and Lord of lords; and this in the face of the world. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse." Victorious power put forth to subdue is the meaning of the white horse. "And he that sat upon him called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." It is no longer a question of sustaining His saints in grace, but of sovereign power for judging the earth. "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems." There was judicial discernment with the distinct possession of all titles to sovereignty.

The first thing noted is the white horse on which He sits. The symbology of the white horse has been explained in Rev. 6. It signifies triumphant power, and here as there, in conflict. When Christ, therefore, issues from heaven seated on the white horse, it is the precursor of His victorious conflict with His foes, when, to use the language of the Psalm, His arrows will be sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people (peoples, it should be) fall under Him. Next, follows a description of the glorious Rider. He is called "Faithful and True." These characteristic names are familiar to the readers of this book in other connections. John terms Him "the faithful witness" (Rev. 1:5); in the letter to Philadelphia He is called, "He that is holy, He that is true" (Rev.: 7); and in that to Laodicea both terms are conjoined: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness." (Rev. 3:14) In Isaiah, moreover, we read that "faithfulness [shall be] the girdle of His reins." (Isa. 11:5.) The combination of these scriptures introduces us at once into the meaning of the words. Faithfulness to God, both inward and outward, marked Him in all His earthly pathway, and when He comes forth to establish His kingdom, to make God's character good in government as against the power of evil, and the rebellion and usurpation of man, He will be governed in all that He does by a single eye to the requirements of the glory of God, as He was also in His death on the cross. Faithfulness to Hint, as already seen, will be the girdle of His loins. Truth in the inward parts, which God sought for, but never found in man until Christ came, will also distinguish Him, so that He will be the perfect expression, and thus a true witness, of all that God is as revealed in His righteous government of the earth. "Faithful and true" reveal, therefore, what He is both to God and for man when He comes forth to assume His rights in this world.

And now mark the contrast with the object of His first coining. Then "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn [judge] the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17); now "in righteousness He doth judge and make war." Grace characterized His first appearing in this world; and righteousness, and consequently judgment, will mark the second, the period of which our scripture speaks. Every one will then be tested by the unerring standard of God's righteous requirements from man, for the day of grace will have closed, and the era of righteous government will have commenced. Christ must, therefore, then "make war" upon everything that opposes itself to, lifts itself up in rebellion against, a holy God.

Now heaven opens again. It opened on Jesus as Son of man and Son of God in the Gospels, the object of divine delight. It was opened to Stephen when the Son of man was standing on the right hand of God in heaven, which is the Christian state. And it is now opened for Jesus to come out as King of kings, and Lord of lords, to execute judgment and justice on the earth. Triumphant power as the operation of God first appears, and characterises the vision - a white horse. But there was one that sat on it called "Faithful"; such He had ever been, at all cost, to God, in the testimony of righteousness, in glorifying Him even to death, that His name might be made good. Obedient till it was given to Him to rise up and take the power, and "true," so that the witness of God which He did render was a perfect witness of all God was, and all His thoughts. His name was "Faithful and True." "Holy and True" was His name for Philadelphia, for us. This was what was subjectively needed for us - but now rewarded, and He coming forth as the faithful and true One. He now does not serve but judges in righteousness, and makes war on the power of evil in the same righteousness. His eyes had the piercing discerning power of judgment, many crowns were on His head.

John in The Revelation presents the same moment in different language. He sees heaven opened, and a white horse appearing. His rider is none less than the Son of God — the Lord Jesus Christ, symbolically presented.

In the vision, John sees "a white horse," the symbol of victorious power. His first coming was in circumstances of weakness and lowly grace, as a little babe. The next coming will be in power and glory. We know that the Rider on the white horse can only represent Christ, for who but Christ can be described as "Faithful and True." At His first coming He was marked by "grace and truth" that brought salvation to men. At the second advent He will come forth as Faithful and True to execute judgment; thus, at once, we read "in righteousness He doth judge and make war."

Revelation 19:11-21 gives us a vivid description of our Lord coming forth from heaven in His David character. The white horse is the symbol of victorious power, contrast to the ass's colt upon which He rode in the day of His lowly grace (Mark 11:7). His name is Faithful and True. What He was in testimony for God He will also be in the execution of His judgements. Let all deniers of the judgement of God beware. "In righteousness He doth judge and make war." Here at last we have an unquestionably "righteous war." Through dreary ages men have striven to keep the Man of God's choice out of His rights. "Let us seize upon His inheritance" (Matt. 21:38). "The inheritance shall be ours" (Mark 12:7). Such has been the language of creature-arrogance, and God has borne with it! The King's eyes are "a flame of fire" — holy discernment in wrath. "On His head are many diadems." Satan has seven (Rev. 12:3); and the Beast ten (Rev. 13:1). The King of Kings and Lord of Lords has "many," for His glory is without limit. Armies follow Him, also riding "upon white horses, clothed in fine Linen, white and clean." These are the glorified saints, previously "caught up" at His descent into the air (1 Thess. 4:15-17). There is no suggestion of mercy in the terrible vision of Revelation 19. "Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God." The fowls of the heavens are angelically summoned to the greatest feast yet known. Kings, captains, mighty men, horses, etc., go down at the word of Him who rides the white horse. The vast hosts of the Roman group of Powers will be impotent before Him, and their leaders, the Beast and the False Prophet will be "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone,"

The third occasion of the opened heavens is deeply solemn. "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." It is the day when God will bring His First-Begotten into the world once more to establish His throne and His kingdom, and to deal with men for their sins, and rejection of His grace. The world has not seen Jesus since the day of Calvary (His disciples alone saw Him during the forty days, Acts 1:3); but it will see Him yet again. "Behold, He comes with clouds and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen " (Rev. 1:7). He is called Faithful and True and this in connection with judgment; for not a word spoken concerning judgment for the ungodly will fall to the ground: all will be solemnly accomplished. He judges and makes war in righteousness, men will have no ground for complaint on that score, but what will righteousness, unmingled with mercy, mean for them? He is "clothed with a vesture dipped in blood"; not the blood of atonement but of foes, as declared by the prophet in Isaiah 63:3. "His name is called the Word of God," for He is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of men's hearts. He also bears another name on His vesture and thigh, "King of kings and Lord of lords." The time will then have arrived for the world-kingdom to become our Lord's and His Christ's; and He shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. 11:15).

Returning now to Christ, John says: "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. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." (vv. 15, 16.) In these few brief sentences the coming of Christ in judgment, the execution of God's vengeance, the establishment of His throne, the subjection of all kings and all nations to His sway, and His supreme exaltation in the earth, are all comprised. It is the complete fulfilment of the second Psalm. The sharp sword, as the reader already knows, is the word of God, according to which the nations will be judged, and with which they will be judicially smitten. "The rod of iron" expresses the absolute and inflexible character of His government, while the winepress, as the connection shows, as well as the vintage judgment of Rev. 14 speaks of the unsparing and unmitigated vengeance which will be poured out upon that awful day. It is through judgment, because of what man is, that the Lord will establish His kingdom and sovereignty over the whole earth, when He will be publicly and universally owned as "King of kings, and Lord of lords."

This is but the prelude to what follows. "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. His eyes were as a flame of fire (unsearching judgment), and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself." The heavens had already opened at His baptism by John, when He began His public ministry as God's anointed Servant; they had opened again in order that the dying Stephen might behold the Son of man in the glory of God; and now they were opening for the last time, as the mighty Conqueror, on the white horse, returns to earth, no longer as the lowly Nazarene, but to vindicate His right, and to "smite the nations, and rule them with a rod of iron."