The Cross and the White Horse

I started reading the Old Testament and the New Testament backwards—not literally from the last page to the first, but book by book. So I began with Revelation and Malachi.

So far, I have been struck by the repeated references to a future divine judgment. As Nahum says, “the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished” (1:3). This judgment has been prophesied since the time of Enoch:

See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14-15)

A Challenge

This reminded me of a challenge I have considered in the past. How do we reconcile different images of Christ? In particular, how can we connect Christ who died on a cross for his enemies with Christ who returns on a white horse to destroy his enemies? John writes:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Rev 19:11-16)

The names used for this rider reveal that he is Jesus. And the fact that his robe is dipped in blood before the battle begins probably points to his suffering and death. But this rider “wages war” and he will “strike down the nations.” That doesn’t sound like the Jesus of the Gospels, who never retaliated with violence and who taught his followers to turn the other cheek. The two images of Christ—on a cross and on a white horse—seem to clash. Does he suffer for his foes or does he kill them?

Three Thoughts

Some say we must reject the violent image of Christ, but three thoughts come to mind.

First, we should not elevate violence or nonviolence to an ultimate ideal. The ultimate ideal is divine justice, which may involve violence (ex. the flood). Divine justice means that, whether there’s violence or not, in the end, no one will be able to say, “The Lord was unfair to me.” The Lord is righteous and he does no wrong (Zeph 3:5).

Second, we are now in the time of God’s favor or salvation. Jesus said he was sent “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Lk 4:19). And Paul says, “now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). This implies that this period will not last forever. When the day of salvation ends, the day of judgment begins.

Third, humanity will grow more defiant against the Lord. Paul writes:

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Tim 3:1-5)

He then adds that evildoers will go “from bad to worse” (2 Tim 3:13). Haven’t people always been like this? Yes, but there will be an “increase of wickedness” in the end (Mt 24:12). This culmination of wickedness is seen in “the man of lawlessness”—note he is a man. Paul writes:

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thess 2:3-4)

(The reference to “God’s temple” is highly controversial. Some think it refers to the church, others to a literal rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, and others to the human heart.)

The climax of human evil is also seen in the war at Armageddon. People will be so defiant that they will gather together to fight against the rider on the white horse.

Then they [three demonic spirits] gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. (Rev 16:16)

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. (Rev 19:19)

This shows that a complete revolt against the Lord has taken place. People are not merely agnostic or skeptical about the Lord. They are seeking to overthrow him. But the rider on the white horse will easily win:

But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. . . The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. (Rev 19:20-21)

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. (2 Thess 2:8)

Conclusion

Our current time period and the trajectory of humanity allow us to make sense of Jesus’s incredible ministry of nonviolence as well as his end time judgment. The man on the cross and the rider on the white horse are one and the same.