June 18, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.” (Zechariah 1.8)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

What we may not want to do is to assume there were only four horses and four riders. Simply because it identifies the horses, which we believe are accompanied by riders who can give reports, by colors of red, brown and white, we may want to understand the plurality by which they are identified. We see that when we share the birth narratives of Jesus of Nazareth born in Bethlehem. We are told that there are magi (plural) bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We assume that since there are only three gifts, then there are only three wisemen. We see it again in the telling of the “Feeding of the 5000.” The “5000” is a census use of the number alluding to the counting of households or heads of households. Thinking conservatively that there is an average of four people to a household the number expands to “The Feeding of the 20,000.” Of course, the number of riders and horses is not significant to the vision given to Zechariah. What is significant is their color and their directive.

We have spoken already concerning their directive. They have been told to search out the whole of “the land.” Whether it means the furthest reaches of the Kingdom of King Darius or to the “ends of the earth” (i.e. the “four” corners of the earth: north, east, south and west) is less important than their purpose. But speaking of “corners of the earth” as directions and associating them with the number of riders, we could consider the other points of the compass which could be numbered as 12 or even 24. Those numbers are significant in both the Old and the New Testaments speaking to the hours of the day, month in a year or the tribes of Israel, for example. This would mean there are many horses and riders who are thoroughly searching out the land to fulfill their mission. What is that mission? What is the state of the “union” as it exists at that point in time. They have already been sent out and have returned ready to give their report. Ultimately there report is, as we have already discussed, “the whole world is at peace, comfortable, unthreatened, unchallenged, unworried and on the brink of apathetic. This news is disturbing to the angel of the Lord, the man in the myrtles who had directed the riders to go forth and come back. This reminds me, and perhaps some of you familiar with the gospels, as I read of a directive given and required to be reported back to the time when Jesus sent His disciples out to practice on their own (meaning without His physical presence but not without the blessing of His Holy Spirit). Even in the gospel rendering of that story, we know that it is said “there were twelve sent out,” i.e. the original twelve disciples, or a greater number which may have been 70 or 72 depending on which reading is chosen in interpretation. Those disciples, regardless of their number, reported back what was done in Jesus’ name: lame walk, blind see, mute talk, demons cast out and people set free by the gospel preaching. There is no sense of “apathy” or “being at peace.” In fact, such reports would have most certainly raised the ire and concern of the Chief Priests and his host of followers: the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law.

Now having dispensed with the mission of the riders who were commissioned to “go into all the world,” let us focus on the colors of the horses that were in the service of those fulfilling the mission. We see in this vision only three colors: red, brown, white. In other venues such as Zechariah 8 and then again in Revelation, we are told of four colors. I am going to focus on these three now because their representation is pertinent to this first vision given to Zechariah. What is interesting to me, and I propose it to you, is that the colors represent purpose and thus the character and nature of the rider himself. Having suggested the possibility that the “man in the myrtles” could be the Messianic Archetype, even the Christ of God Himself in angelic form, I am also suggesting that it would hold the same to be true for the other “three” riders. Representing the whole nature, character and purpose of God, we see first “the man in the myrtles” as the Judge and Discerner of Truth. The second “red rider” would be that of Judge and Dispenser of Justice even to the extreme of war and death. The “brown horse” is most likely the presence of pestilence, drought and dying which is the result of war as well as that of neglect due to apathy and the lack of tending to “creation.” The “white horse” is emblematic of restoration and the glory of God. There is no question as to these four identities being associated with the God of Salvation and the Son of Righteousness. We know of the “many” names of God representative of the nature and character of God expressed in His purposes and actions for His people. The same can be said as we reflect upon the presence of these “characters” in Zechariah’s vision. Further, if there were many horses of three colors, the riders themselves are the ambassadors and emissaries of God, a heavenly host if you will. As the horses and their riders move out across the land bearing their “colors,” it would be a certain message as to their presence. It would also speak to the requirement of truthfulness on the part of the people reviewed and interviewed. The vision presented to them by the riders themselves would strike the “fear of God” into their hearts and minds. To be anything less than truthful was fraught with the anticipation of judgment, justice, death (sickness at the very least) and the unleashing of the power of their Master.

Mighty ones of God, let us heed the possibilities of this vision as we are seeing it in the light. It gives us opportunity to be truthful ourselves about who and where we are as the people of the land (and our apathy or fear of responding truthfully to the presence of the Master) as well as those who are sent out into the land (to faithfully execute the duty and responsibilities given to us as our commissioning.) It is with strong conviction that I believe the Church itself is representative of this vision. The Church ought to be convicted of its own nature and character in both realms. We stand before the “man in the myrtles” who has promised us authentic peace and convicts us of our desire to be at peace with the world. As we move forward from this identification and heed the message given and reported, we now must consider the “verdict” and the execution of the righteous judgment that will be the response of the “man in the myrtles.”

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.