HORSES

                                                                            Horses

Image from Net

Horses play large in our vocabulary: Horseplay, horsepower, horse sense, flogging a dead horse, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, wild horses wouldn’t drag me away, get off your high horse, hold your horses, etc. It seems that we are always talking about horses. One of my hobby horses is the Bible and talking about the King of kings, which for me means that politics and religion go together like a horse and carriage. Yet, today’s society tries hard to unhitch the horse (Christianity) from its carriage (politics). It teaches that talking about these things is verboten. Thankfully, I don’t live in that world. For me it’s horses for courses. 

Politics has to do with governance, whole nations and every aspect thereof. Government is God’s minister to promote good and discourage evil (Rom. 13:1-5). Therefore, they are accountable to Christ, the King of kings for implementing His instruction (Matt. 25:32; Acts 17:31; Phil. 2:9-11). ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ (Prov. 14:34). Speaking of horses…

Everyone has heard of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Rev. 6:2-8). Each rides a differently coloured horse – white, fiery red, black, and pale, each horse and rider symbolising something. Though the Book of Revelation is seen by sensationalists as the motherload to mine for material for their bestselling books, they invariable are putting the cart before the horse. They interpret Revelation from the daily news rather than the rest of Scripture (See, e.g., Zech. 1:8-17; 6:1-8).

Revelation is all about the construction of Christ’s Kingdom while at the same time Satan’s kingdom is gradually being destroyed. In other words, it’s all about Jesus, the King of kings, progressively conquering the nations by His Spirit and His Word, i.e., with His Law and Gospel working in the hearts of men, women, and children. ‘And I looked, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer’ (Rev. 6:2). This rider has been identified as everything from Christ to His opposite, viz., antichrist. Scary videos are legion promoting their aberrations. We’ll let the sane and sober Bible commentator Matthew Henry give us a brief description of this verse: ‘The Lord Jesus appears riding on a white horse … The successful progress of the gospel of Christ in the world is a glorious sight, worth beholding. Christ’s work is not done all at once.’ Christians know how difficult it can be at times sharing the gospel with friends. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. However, lest we be discouraged we must remember that the Spirit must work with the Word, the sword of the Spirit, otherwise they will not drink the water of life. The Rider of the white horse must slay them before they will live.    

'Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS’ (Rev. 19:11-16).