Revelation 6:1-2 1And when I watched, the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice, “Come!” 2And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and the one sitting on it having a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and in order to conquer.
The action shifts at the beginning in chapter 6. John’s vision is still of the heavenly throne room. The focus is on what the Lamb will do with the scroll that only he is worthy to open. John is somehow allowed to see events on earth as each of the seals is broken. A sequence is followed with each of the seals. The Lamb opens, John is told to look, and then something happens. The difficult part with each of the seals is when the action will take place in history. What does the scene symbolize? More significantly, what message does the scene give to the first readers in the seven churches and how can we listen in and apply the message for us today? The typical way to read the following chapters is called the futurist, which argues that each seal reveals God’s plan for the closure of history. We should acknowledge, however, that that is not the only way to interpret these passages. Symbolic literature is difficult—if not impossible—to interpret at times. The seven seals may also somehow relate to the seven trumpets of 8:6–11:19 and the seven bows of 15:1–16:21. The first four seals form a subset with the image of four horsemen. Possible background can be found in Zechariah 1:8.
As the Lamb breaks the first seal holding the scroll of God’s will closed, one of the four living creatures speaks in a thunderous voice no one could miss. The loud Come! would have grabbed anyone’s attention, riveted on the awesome vision of the heavenly worship service. John sees the image of a rider on a white horse. White is symbolic in Revelation of purity, but the exact meaning of white in this verse is impossible to determine. Jesus will come on a white horse in chapter 19. A pure white horse is a beautiful animal and gets one’s attention. The rider has two qualities mentioned: the bow is a weapon of war, and the crown represents power. The repetition of the word conquer gives the impression of someone coming with the purpose of gaining control through war and power. It is difficult to imagine a pure leader coming on the scene to conquer, so the white horse may have other meaning.
People seeking control is not just for end times, though that certainly could be a sign of the times. The first readers of Revelation could have pictured any one of many Roman conquerors who came with power and warfare. Many political and religious leaders arise in modern times through the same ways. We cannot tell the motive of this conquest, whether it is for good purposes or bad. The rider of the white horse was given power to conquer with the bow and authority to rule with the crown. The passive voice shows either people’s approval or God’s sovereign plan or both, as is common in stories of the Bible. The simple lessons are 1) that God is in control and only allows things to happen according to his will, and 2) we need not worry because all this will take place under the sovereign watch of the Lamb.