The more I read Zechariah, and compare it to the Revelation to John, the more I see Zechariah as a companion text to this final book. It provides insight into some of the imagery John uses in his record.

Without it, I think it's possible to go sideways in your interpretation.

For example, consider the Four Horsemen described in Rev 6:

Then I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a thunderous voice, “Come!”

So I looked and saw a white horse, and its rider held a bow. And he was given a crown, and he rode out to overcome and conquer.

And when the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”

Then another horse went forth. It was bright red, and its rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. And he was given a great sword.

And when the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!”

Then I looked and saw a black horse, and its rider held in his hand a pair of scales. And I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine.”

And when the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.

Rev 6:1-8

The most common interpretation is to associate these horses and their riders with the activity of the antichrist. I really don't think there's a justification for doing this. The reason? The Book of Zechariah. The Book of Zechariah is the only other book in the Bible that I'm aware of that describes the use of horses and riders in prophetic visions.

While the book doesn't provide an exhaustive explanation of these horses, It does provide enough information to steer our interpretation away from the popular belief that these horsemen are illustrating the activity of the end-time antichrist.

I won't provide my own explanation of the text in Zechariah. Rather, I will emphasize what the text emphasizes. You can draw your own conclusions.

Zechariah's first vision:

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.

I looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

“What are these, my lord?” I asked.

And the angel who was speaking with me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

And the riders answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”

Zech 1:7-11

Later, in another vision:

And again I lifted up my eyes and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth dappled horses—all of them strong.

So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

And the angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth from their station before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

As the strong horses went out, they were eager to go and patrol the earth; and the LORD said, “Go and patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

Then the LORD summoned me and said, “Behold, those going to the land of the north have given rest to My Spirit in the land of the north.”

Zech 6:1-8

In terms of a time context, Both of these visions occur in the second year of Darius (Zech 1) - at the end of Israel's captivity in Babylon. It was under the rule of Darius that the Jews began rebuilding the temple. So we know that the time setting is different than that recorded in Revelation 6. So we should probably expect to see different activity regarding these horses and their riders. And we do.

In the first vision, the text clearly states that these horses and their riders "are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth". The riders then report to the angel of the Lord “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”

In the second vision, we see four chariots - each with different colour horses. And when Zechariah asks the angel what these are, he states: “These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth from their station before the Lord of all the earth."

As in the previous vision, these horses were sent out to "patrol the earth". Here each chariot is described as going to a different area of the earth. Also notice that one of the chariots is described as "giving rest to My Spirit in the land of the north". So this particular chariot is able to affect conditions in the land of the north.

So in summary, what can we gather about these horses and their role in the Book of Zechariah?

  • In the first occurrence, they were the "ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth" during the second year of Darius and they reported what they observed back to the Lord.
  • In the second occurrence, they were described as the "four spirits of heaven" and that they too were sent out to patrol. But in this case, they were described as being sent to different areas of the earth.
  • We also see one of the chariots having an active role in affecting conditions in the area that it was sent.

There are some differences in behavior between the Zechariah and Revelation accounts. In Zechariah, they seem to be released together but their influence is more territorial. In the Revelation account, they are released one at a time and their influence seems to be global with the possible exception of the fourth horseman - "they were given authority over a fourth of the earth". Most would interpret this to mean this horseman releases death over 1/4 of the earth's population. But I'm open to the possibility that this horseman has influence over 1/4 of the earth geographically.

It's not a lot of detail, but I think there's enough here to provide some insight into the four horsemen and their role as described in the Revelation to John.

So I ask, do you think these horses and their riders in the Revelation to John are describing the activity of the antichrist? Or is something else going on here?

Related: The Seals of Revelation