Unfulfilled Revelation › Final Events

Return of Christ on a White Horse

Heaven opens; King of Kings on a white horse; armies of heaven follow; sharp sword from his mouth; treads the winepress of God's wrath.

Key Hebrew Terms

צִדְקָה (tsidkah, H6666); מִלְחָמָה (milchamah, H4421)

Key Greek Terms

λόγος (logos, G3056); ἵππος (hippos, G2462); βασιλέων (basileon, G935)

Linked Verses (33)

KJV

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

KJV

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

KJV

Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

KJV

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

KJV

And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

KJV

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:

KJV

But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

KJV

And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

KJV

And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

KJV

All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.

KJV

And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

KJV

And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

KJV

And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

KJV

And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.

KJV

And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.

KJV

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

KJV

And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

KJV

And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

KJV

This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

KJV

In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.

KJV

Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Matthew 24:30 source
KJV

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

KJV

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

KJV

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

KJV

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

KJV

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

KJV

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

KJV

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

KJV

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

KJV

That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

KJV

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

KJV

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

KJV

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Church Fathers

Justin Martyr (Dialogue 110-120) insists on two advents of Christ, the second in glory. Irenaeus (Against Heresies V.35) connects the rider on the white horse to Psalm 45 and Revelation 19, arguing Christ returns bodily to establish the kingdom. Tertullian (On the Resurrection 22) reads 'every eye shall see him' literally. Hippolytus (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 64-67) describes the return as immediately following the Antichrist's three-and-a-half-year reign. Origen (Commentary on Matthew 24) and later Augustine spiritualize parts of the advent but preserve its personal, visible character.

Ancient Text Cross-References

1 Enoch 2
1 Enoch 46:1-3 (Similitudes)
And there I saw One who had a head of days, and His head was white like wool, and with Him was another being whose countenance had the appearance of a man. And I asked the angel who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, concerning that Son of Man, who he was.
The earliest extant pre-Christian Son of Man Messianic figure; the title used by Jesus of Himself throughout the Gospels draws on this tradition and on Daniel 7.
1 Enoch 48:5, 57:3
And all who dwell on the earth shall fall down and bow the knee before Him, and will bless and laud and celebrate with song the Lord of Spirits. And they shall declare blessing, and shall prostrate themselves before that Son of Man.
Universal bowing of the knee before the Son of Man; identified by BibleFacts.org as a direct pre-Christian parallel to Philippians 2:10 (every knee shall bow).
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 1
Testament of Levi 18:1-4
Then shall the Lord raise up a new priest, to whom all the words of the Lord shall be revealed. And he shall execute a righteous judgement upon the earth for a multitude of days. And his star shall arise in heaven as of a king, lighting up the light of knowledge as the sun the day.
The messianic priest-king oracle; cited by Origen, and a key pre-Christian text on the combined priestly and royal Messiah of Hebrews 7.