The book of Revelation is full of signs, symbols, and images - making it one of the most difficult books in the Bible to interpret. There are 7 sealed scrolls which only Jesus is worthy to open, revealing catastrophic events to come upon the world. There are 7 Trumpets blown by 7 angels, accompanied by plagues that are unleashed upon mankind. There are 7 Bowls of God’s wrath that will be poured out upon the Beast and its followers.
But maybe the most enigmatic images in the prophetic book of Revelation, are the ‘4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ - because of their wide array of colors, their puzzling & mysterious messaging, and their annihilation of 25% of Humanity.
Who or what are these Horsemen? Are they representative of men, or nations? Empires or Angels? Is there any significance to their coloring? And when do the 4 Horsemen ride and inflict their damage?
The 4 Horsemen are only spoken of in one text of the book of Revelation: “ And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, as it were the noise of thunder, Come and see. 2 And I saw, and behold: there was a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering, and to overcome. 3 And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second creature say, Come and see. 4 And there went out another horse that was red. And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword. 5 And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third creature say, Come and see. And I looked, and lo: a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four creatures say, A measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of barley for a denarius; and oil and wine, see you do not harm. 7 And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth creature say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold: a green (Gk. Chloros) horse, and the name of him who sat on it was death. And hell followed after him, and power was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death that comes by the dangerous creatures of the earth.” (REVELATION 6:1-8 NMB)
Some Christian leaders believe that REVELATION 6 and Matthew 24:4-8 are parallelisms, that is, 2 texts that are talking about the same events. They argue that since the white horsemen has a bow but no arrows, it’s symbolic of a conquering by deception - not war - and therefore aligns with Jesus’s Olivet prophecy about the coming of false prophets who will deceive many.
Jesus follows with a warning about ‘wars & rumors of wars’ (MT.24:6) - which seems to align with the Red Horsemen of war (REV.6:3,4).
Then Jesus prophesies of famines & pestilences (MT.24:7) - leading some to believe that lines up with the 3rd and 4th Horsemen of famine & pestilences.
Because of such parallelisms, some believe that the 4 Horsemen have been riding for several decades now - citing war, famine, earthquakes and pestilence statistics in this modern era. But even if you take the death toll from all the wars and natural disasters of the last 60 years, it only amounts to tens of millions of deaths - not 1/4 of Mankind (over 2 billion people) - as Revelation 4:8 clearly states! As Jesus stated “These (deception, war, famines, earthquakes & pestilences) are only the beginning of sorrows” (MATTHEW 24:8).
No, the 4 Horsemen have yet to ride! So what of their coloring? Is there any significance to this combination of 4 different colored horses? Well. it’s a fact of history that empires and nations have colors associated with them - usually in their flags and military uniforms. So, it’s utterly astounding that the nations in history and in the world today that use white, red, black and green in their flags - are Muslim nations! The Arab Liberation League. that was formed during WW1, chose this combination of colors to fight under. And the first 2 Horsemen (white & red) are represented in the flag colors of modern-day Turkey, which is where Satan’s throne is (REV. 2:13), and also where the Biblical ‘King of the North’ was headquartered (Antioch). Not so coincidentally, the Turks reigned over the Arab nations for 500 years as the Ottoman empire, representing all the colors of the 4 Horsemen.
The only other ‘group of 4’ national entities found in Scripture, are the 4 Horns (symbolic of nations) found in the Old Testament: “Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns. 19 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” So he answered me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” (ZECHARIAH 1:18,19) Daniel, the prophet, tells us how this combination of 4 nations was formed: “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.” (DANIEL 7:7,8) This ‘Little Horn,’ plucks up and subdues (DAN.7:24) 3 Horns or kingdoms sometime in the future. Most Theologians believe the ‘Little Horn’ is another name for the ‘King of the North’ - since both invade Israel in the future (DAN.8:9; 11:40-41). If the ‘Little Horn’ (Turkey) plucks up and subdues Syria, Iran & Iraq during this upcoming war with Iran (Modern-day Elam JER.49:34-39), then the 4 Horsemen will be ready to ride - and will ride when the ‘King of the North’ is attacked by the ‘King of the South’ (Egypt - DAN.11:40-45) - and the other 7 Horns give their power to this Beast.
Who will counter and stop these 4 Horsemen? 4 Charioteers! Zechariah was inspired to write about them: “Then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. 2 With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses, 3 with the third chariot white horses, and with the fourth chariot dappled horses—strong steeds. 4 Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 And the angel answered and said to me, “These are four spirits of heaven, who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The one with the black horses is going to the north country, the white are going after them, and the dappled are going toward the south country.” 7 Then the strong steeds went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And He said, “Go, walk to and fro throughout the earth.” So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. 8 And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “See, those who go toward the north country have given rest to My Spirit in the north country.” (ZECHARIAH 6:1-8)
Two prophetic chapters in your Bible with the same chapter and verse (ZECH.6:1-8 & REV.6:1-8). Both texts have 4 colored horses, sharing at least 3 colors (white, red, black). And both texts speak of 4 heavenly creatures (ZECH.6:5 & REV.6:1)
There’s only one set of ‘4 heavenly creatures’ spoken of throughout Scripture, so it’s safe to consider them the same: “Before the throne (of God) there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were 4 living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.” (REVELATION 4:6,7)
Ezekiel is given a vision of these ‘4 living creatures’ having wheels, making them look like chariots: “Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 17 When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. 18 As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were full of eyes, all around the four of them. 19 When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them.” (EZEKIEL 1:15-19)
In Zechariah’s 2nd vision, he sees what he calls 4 craftsmen (probably these same 4 creatures) coming against the 4 Horns (or Horsemen): “Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?” So he said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them (so obviously not Human), to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.” (ZECHARIAH 1:20,21)
And the apostle John sees a vision describing these same 4 creatures waring against the Beast (Little Horn and his followers): “Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.” (REVELATION 9:13-15)
There’s one more color that readers tend to read right over in Zechariah’s vision of the 4 charioteers: “Then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, 4 chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of BRONZE. Mountains are symbolic of kingdoms throughout your Bible - and there is only one ‘Bronze kingdom’ mentioned in Scripture: “You, O king (Nebuchadnezzar), are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.” (DANIEL 2:37-39) History tells us that this 3rd kingdom represented by bronze in Daniel’s image - was the kingdom of Greece - which after Alexander the Great’s death, was divided up into 4 kingdoms. These 4 charioteer angels are coming from between 2 of these 4 mountains or kingdoms (King of the North and King of the South) because the text tells us that the black and white horse charioteers go toward the North - and the dappled toward the south (ZECH.6:6). The vision ends with the statement that the horses that went north have “given rest to My (God’s Spirit) in the North country.” That’s because these 4 angels with wheels, have killed the Beast and his followers - 1/3 mankind!