Revelation 19:11
Faithful and True
Heaven opens rather than a door in it. The first name given is about character, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
People of the Bible
The rider on the white horse
Has four names in eleven verses, and the only weapon named is a sword that comes out of his mouth.
Heaven opens and a rider comes out, and the passage does nothing but describe him. His eyes were as a flame of fire, on his head were many crowns, he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. It is the most concentrated portrait in the book, and every element of it has been introduced somewhere earlier in Revelation or in the gospels.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of The rider on the white horse
- 01
- 02
Revelation 19:12
A name written, that no man knew
Many crowns and one unreadable name. The passage names him three times and then says one of them is not available.
- 03
Revelation 19:13
A vesture dipped in blood
The robe is stained before the battle begins, which points backwards rather than forwards, and his name is called The Word of God.
- 04
Revelation 19:15
Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword
The only weapon in the scene is speech. The armies following him are dressed for a wedding rather than a war and are never said to fight.
- 05
Revelation 19:16
King of kings, and Lord of lords
The last name is written where it can be read from the ground, on the vesture and on the thigh.
Why it matters
The four names are the shape of the passage. He is called Faithful and True, which is what he does; he has a name written that no man knew but he himself, which is what cannot be reached; his name is called The Word of God, which is what John called him in his first line; and on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is not the rider of the first seal in chapter six, who carries a bow and goes out conquering. This one has already been described as the Lamb that was slain.
2 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
