Preface: Some dates are easy for me to remember....February 4, 2020 for example....my seventieth birthday. That was the day of President Trump's State of the Union address....where Rush was given a medal....and Nancy Pelosi ripped up the transcript at the end of the speech. More importantly it was President Trump's Nebuchadnezzar-style....roof of the palace speech....where the Babylonian king said...."Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:30))....where Trump's address before a joint session of congress was every bit as boastful. Less than twelve months later Trump was on the grass at the ellipse....and thereafter...."driven from among men"....at least men with common sense. Another day easy for me to remember was October 2 of 2020....our forty-sixth anniversary....when President Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. That was a wild weekend with denials and conflicting stories. It was the first day of the Jewish festival Sukkot. The recent attack on Israel that is affecting the whole world took place hours after the last day of Sukkot. The following post is from January 2....twenty-six days ago:
The Christian......'Word Of The Year'......Imminence
The Apostle John wrote of four judgments in chapter six of Revelation....passages known often as the....Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse....riders on a white horse....a red horse....and black horse....and a pale ( in Greek either a green/greenish-yellow or pale/pallid) horse. Interestingly these are the colors of the Palestinian flag. We know that the red and the black and the pale horses are....war and famine and death....but what about the rider on the white horse?
"And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer." Revelation 6:2
Many believe....my own theological tradition for one....that the rider on the white horse is Christ. That may turn out to be correct....but I have never been persuaded of that....and there is no way that they can absolutely know that. Most believe that the bow and the crown signify a man coming in peace....(no arrows for his bow)....and given a crown. That also may turn out to be correct....but no one can know that for certain. I have never been persuaded of that either. I don't claim to know what the white horse signifies. I believe that Bible prophecy is being revealed to us right now....because the time is right now....and what has not yet been revealed....will be revealed in God's perfect time....no sooner....and that includes the importance of the rider on the white horse.
I'm going to give you a possibility. I'm not convinced of this by any means. I'm more concerned with what the ramifications would be if this possibility turned out to be correct. What if? What if the rider on the white horse was the pandemic and the coronavirus?
If this were the case....and the rider on the white horse is the pandemic and the coronavirus.....then that would mean that the Tribulation had already started. Now....if the Tribulation has already started....how important would the Steeler's next game be? No pun intended here but it would be a whole new ball game....would it not? What I'm trying to do here is shake this belief system that we are mired in....that whatever the last of the last days turns out to be....that it would probably be in the distant to maybe the not so distant future...but at the nearest ten or twenty years away...bare minimum!
That is what we believe....and it is stultifying as to any exuberance or hope or expectation that Jesus Christ not only sees what is happening right now....but is in effect already mounted along with His holy angels! You may disagree with everything I say in this post....but you cannot disagree with this....in the scenario that the Tribulation has already begun....then all of these other cares and dangers....have to be placed on that gird! If pastors preached on the imminence of the Lord's return....even on the hope of the imminence of His coming in righteous judgment....there would be a corresponding change in the attitude of those in the pews....at the least away from our many idolatries!
Within the past few days the Oxford Dictionary people announced their latest....Word of the Year....'Riz.' OK....I've never heard it used....but if George Clooney and Tom Hanks use it then it must be a word. The word comes from 'charisma'....and we all know what that is. The Oxford announcement makes news every year. In 2022 the word was...Vax. In November of 2020 their...."team of expert lexicographers"....decided that no one word would be appropriate in such an "unprecedented" year as 2020 ....so they instead chose themes around Covid-19....the coronavirus....because of the monumental effect it has had on the world....and they settled on the word....Unprecedented.
So what is....corona? The Merriam-Webster definition for corona is...."something suggesting a crown." OK....that could be the 'crown'...but what about the 'bow'? As I wrote in a previous post...."The ancient Greek fighters would put poison on their arrows. They called this....toxikon pharmakon....the archery drug. The evolution of this whole thing has given us the word....toxic. Oxford's Word of the Year for 2018....before the pandemic....was....Toxic. According to the Oxford website....'the Latin word itself....(toxicus)....came from the Greek term....toxon....meaning....bow.' So....coronavirus revolves around the word....crown....and the word....bow....basically means poison."
Let me reiterate here. I am not saying that the white horse from Revelation is the pandemic. What I am saying is that if the white horse of Revelation was the coronavirus pandemic....then the Tribulation would have started.....and war would be next. We can keep all of our own thinking on the four horsemen....but we should also have this be our....Word of the Year....every year....as it pertains to the return of the Lord Jesus....Imminence!
