Verse 11 says, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sits on it called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” Here Christ, the Bridegroom as the Commander-in-chief, appears riding on a white horse. The horse of the first seal is also white and signifies the preaching of the gospel (6:2). Thus, both Christ and the gospel ride on a white horse. In the book of Revelation, white indicates being pure, bright, justified, and approved. This is vastly different from what is indicated by the colors of the other three horses in chapter six—red, black, and pale green. Even today we are riding on this white horse. Our preaching of the gospel is pure, bright, justified, and absolutely approved by the Lord. Christ will ride on this horse as He fights against His enemy.
In verse 11 Christ is called “Faithful and True.” Christ is faithful both to God and to those who believe in Him. In His faithfulness He defeats and destroys those who oppose God and persecute the believers. He is true in carrying out God’s economy and in caring for those who believe in Him. He is trustworthy, and with Him there is no falsehood.
Verse 11 also says, “In righteousness He judges and makes war.” Christ will judge and fight in righteousness. He judges by fighting. It is true even today that no wrongdoers would accept the judgments of our courts if the government had no police force to back up these judgments. Judgment can only be executed by police power. When Christ comes to judge Antichrist, Antichrist will be utterly rebellious. Thus, there will be the need for Christ to fight to subdue this rebellion and to judge these rebels in righteousness. His judging by fighting is not only according to righteousness; it is also to maintain righteousness.
Verse 12 says, “And His eyes are a flame of fire.” This signifies Christ’s judging eyes. He will judge according to what He sees. His flaming eyes will carry out His judgment.
As the Warrior, Christ has many diadems on His head (v. 12). Every diadem is a kind of glory. Christ is crowned and glorified. Because He has been crowned with many kinds of glories (Heb. 2:9), He wears many diadems.
As the One on the white horse, the Lord has “a name written which no one knows but Himself” (v. 12). The experience of Christ can never be exhausted. When we experience Him, we come to know a particular aspect of Him. However, there are certain aspects of Christ that will not be experienced by us. Only He Himself knows what these aspects are. This indicates that the Christ whom we experience is inexhaustible. Because we have experienced His redemption, we know Him as the Redeemer. Because we have experienced Him as light, life, manna, power, strength, holiness, and comfort, we know Him in all these aspects. We have experienced so many items of Christ’s riches. But because there are some items which we have not experienced, He still has a name known only to Himself. Therefore, we do not know this name. No matter how much we have experienced Christ, there is still something about Him unknown to us because we have not experienced it.
Verse 13 says, “And He is clothed with a garment dipped in blood.” The garment of Christ is dipped in blood and becomes red by His treading the winepress of the wine of the fury of the wrath of God (v. 15; Isa. 63:1-3) at Armageddon (16:14, 16), where the blood will rise up to the bridles of the horses (14:20).