God’s Horses and Chariots

In the vision in Zechariah 6:1–8, there is closure!

In this closure there is rest, the rest of God’s Spirit!

Exactly because God is the Alpha, he is also the Omega. He performs a perfect work. The end, the cutting off of God’s work in time, is his entrance into the rest. The Spirit of the Lord will rest in the north country.

The victory!

God’s victory!

Then will be the revelation before the whole creation of God’s eternal victory, a revelation that he is eternally and always the victorious one! He is the victorious one because he is not only the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, but he is also the whole alphabet of all world history. From the Alpha his work proceeds in a straight line to the Omega.

Therefore, in this vision there is closure.

This vision is the last of the visions shown to the prophet on that momentous night of the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the second year of the reign of King Darius. Jerusalem is still a prey to devastation. In the eyes of the oppressed, faint-hearted band that has returned from Babylon, it scarcely seems likely that God’s cause—the cause of his kingdom and his eternal covenant—ever will have the victory.

This vision in many respects is similar to the first vision recorded in Zechariah 1:7–17, and this vision appears to be a return to the first vision. In both visions the prophet sees a cavalry troop, a military force; in both visions the emphasis apparently falls on the colors of the horses; and in both visions the cavalry goes to and fro throughout the earth.

But God’s work always goes straight on; the Almighty never returns in history to retrace his steps.

History always surges forward to the Omega!

The consummation!

Therefore, both visions are not alike; there is a significant difference between them. In this vision the prophet sees black horses, which were not in the first vision. In this vision the prophet sees horses and chariots emerging from between two brass mountains; but in the first vision, the prophet had seen horses among the myrtles. In this vision the horses set forth; but in the first vision, they recently had returned from traversing the earth. In this vision the horses do their work and carry out their tasks; but in the first vision, they merely had reported that the whole earth sits still and is at rest.

But the greatest difference is that in this vision the prophet sees the end, God’s end.

For indeed, those who go forth to the north country cause God’s Spirit to rest in the north country.

In this vision there is an entering into rest!

Into the rest of God!

God’s horses!

In this vision there are also chariots. However, the presence of chariots makes no essential difference regarding the meaning of the vision. But the chariots abundantly make clear that the prophet sees a fighting force, for the chariots are war chariots.

God’s fighting force!

Only from this perspective must we see these strong horses—these powers—prancing with impatience to traverse the earth.

Red, black, white, and speckled horses.¹

Oh, yes, if you would view these powers—especially the red, black, and speckled horses—from an earthly, a human, or a purely historical perspective, you would say that the horses are not God’s powers that execute the will of the Most High, do his work, and achieve his purpose. And from a historical perspective, the white horses would seem to be unimportant, for they do not resemble a fighting force nor appear as a triumphant power in the world like the other horses. Here on earth we certainly see these horses as forces: forces of war, the hatred of nations, destruction, and bloodshed—the red horse; powers of scarcity and want, hunger and misery—the black horse; terrors of death and the grave that ceaselessly mow down humans, both young and old, rich and poor, and weak and strong—the speckled, which is the “pale horse” of Revelation 6:8. And we see the white horse as the power of the preaching of the word, of the church, and of the cause of the kingdom of heaven in the world.

We see these horses at all times throughout all history.

Always these horses go to and fro throughout the whole earth.

Everywhere these horses do their work. They were present in the past. They are present now too. They grow ever stronger, ever more impatient—except perhaps the white horses. In our day we behold these three horses in all the terror of their formidable power, in all the horror of the devastation they wreak. They arrive with thundering force and reveal their might upon the earth, in the air, and in the depths of the sea. They rage and storm. The red horses furiously foam at their mouths, spew fire and brimstone, and crush everything beneath their mighty hooves. The earth trembles and rends; the air is filled with crashing and rolling thunder; cities are crushed; and people—defenseless men, women, and children—meet cruel deaths. The sea is tempestuous and knows not why. Those who sail upon the sea—in ships small and large—are dragged mercilessly down to the depths.

In the tracks of the red horses follow the black and speckled horses.

They are strong too, yet they work in silence, certain of victory. They stalk about like the pestilences in the night. They find people in their homes and on the battlefields. There is no escape. These powers spread hunger, pestilence, misery, and death.

And ever onward the white horses pursue their mission—they are the power of Christ’s kingdom—gripping people by their hearts and subjecting them to the King of kings and Lord of lords!

But are not the red, black, and speckled horses worldly powers? And for this reason, will the white horses not be compelled to halt their mission? Or, at least, would one not expect the force represented by the white horses to be depicted as engaging in a life-and-death struggle against the other horses? Are not the other horses, then, the powers of godless men who are bent on world domination and who rage against the Lord’s Anointed? Are they not the powers of the oppressors of this age—the Nimrods and the Pharaohs, the Zebahs and the Zalmunnas, the Nebuchadnezzars and the Alexanders, the Caesars and the Napoleons, and the Hitlers and the Mussolinis? Do they not unleash these powers of war, death, and destruction in order to execute their wills and to secure the victory for the powers of darkness?

The horses and chariots of men!

Forces of the ungodly world, of the spirit of antichrist, and of the son of perdition!

Or again, is not the power of the white horses the well-nigh desperate struggles of a poor church who seeks to maintain and expand herself and strives to bring the world into subjection to the authority of her king?

Viewed from our perspective, it seems that all these forces are the horses and chariots of men. Upon the world stage where these forces appear, struggle, advance, and wreak havoc and death, the law of cause and effect is actively at work. Human beings—rational, responsible, and sinful human beings, who are dead through their sins and transgressions—appear on the world stage. These human beings stand in the service of the prince of darkness and churn up mire and mud like the driven sea. They are causes—co-causes, secondary causes—of the emergence of the powers of destruction upon the world stage, and thereby these humans heap up for themselves treasures of wrath against the day of judgment!

Other people—redeemed, reborn people; children of light; and coworkers together of God in Christ—also appear and struggle on the world stage. To them it is given by grace in the cause of Christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for and with him. On the world stage they are seeking, working, and striving in the cause of the white horses and looking toward the reward that is laid up for them on Christ’s day!

That these are the horses and chariots of men is not the last word.

If it were, then there could be no hope and ardent expectation!

Another light, a light from above, falls on these powers and their struggles.

It is a light that brings order to the apparent confusion and gives purpose to the seemingly aimless turmoil of the nations.

It is a light that reveals all these powers to us as servants of the Lord who are doing his work, executing his counsel, attaining his objective, and culminating in his end: the Omega!

It is a light in which all these powers are seen as working according to a fixed program—not striving against one another but cooperating and following one another.

It is the light of God’s eternal good pleasure, in which all earthly and human causes ultimately become secondary causes, dependent causes, and subservient causes.

Why do the heathen rage?

Why do the people imagine a vain thing?

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh!

They stand in God’s service!

God’s horses and chariots!

Powers of the Most High, bringing about war and the turmoil of nations, death and destruction, famine and pestilence, and establishing and working toward the consummation: God’s eternal covenant and kingdom!

In this way—and in this way alone—must we view these powers represented by the horses and chariots.

For these horses and chariots emerge from between two brass mountains. They do not originate from the palaces of the kings of this earth or from the strongholds of the rulers of this world, nor from the gates of hell. No, in the light of God’s program, in the light of prophecy, we see these horses issue from between two mountains—mountains of brass—to go to and fro throughout the earth. And between those mountains the horses and chariots stand before the face of the Lord of the whole earth. They await his bidding. They are ready to do his will.

These are the mountains of God—symbols of his truth and righteousness: steadfast, unshakable, awe-inspiringly high, and majestic.

5. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep. (Ps. 36:5–6)

These mountains of God are of brass not only because they are steadfast and strong, like the bones of Behemoth, but also because these mountains of God’s righteousness stand as signs of his judgment and wrath, like the brazen serpent and like the fine, burnt-brass feet of him who will come to judge. These powers go out from two brass mountains because the powers proceed from the discriminating justice of God.

These powers go forth to uphold God’s justice, to execute his judgment. For this reason these powers also serve to bring about the coming of God’s kingdom along the way of his righteousness.

Indeed, these powers may also be designated as “the four spirits of the heavens.” For so says the angel to the prophet: “These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.” Understand that the Hebrew word translated as “spirits” means winds. And the winds of heaven are not powers that stand under human control, nor are the winds sent forth or governed by human beings. Rather, the winds are powers of God, influences and workings of the Most High—whether mediate or immediate—upon the vast sea of nations to stir it up. The winds are powers of God that bring to pass the perishing of one kingdom and the rising of another kingdom that exalts itself. As these winds burst forth upon the great world-sea and stir it up, one beast after another rises out of the sea. It is as Daniel saw in his vision:

2. I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 

3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. (Dan. 7:2–3)

For God is at work in his righteous wrath among godless nations and even amidst the lusts of the flesh and the stirrings of sin. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom. 1:18). And then matters grow worse; then judgment comes; then the world seeks its own destruction in war, revolution, famine, misery, and death. God is at work also in his almighty grace, and then the power of sin and death is overcome, and his kingdom is established.

God’s powers—all four of them!

Therefore, they await his bidding!

They stand in the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

Therefore, when God wills it, these powers go wherever he sends them, and he controls their works and influences.

No matter how impatient these horses may be to traverse the entire earth, only when God says, “Get you hence; walk to and fro through the earth,” are they able to go.

At the supreme command from the Lord’s own lips, all these things come to pass!

Let not your heart be troubled!

God reigns!

The Omega!

The end—God’s end, the consummation of all things—is being reached!

And the Omega is not a mere return to the Alpha, but the Omega is the coming of the eternal and heavenly perfection of God’s covenant.

And these powers—all these powers—must cooperate and serve to bring this end, even if a godless world does not intend it so.

These horses range everywhere; they roam far and wide. Throughout the entire world and in all history, they carry out their work. True indeed in this vision granted to the prophet, the work of these warring forces is revealed from the specific historical vantage point of the prophet’s own time. And so we see the black horses heading toward the north country—Babylon and further into the north—with the white horses following closely behind. Then the speckled horses make their way to the south country—Egypt. And for a moment we lose sight of the red horses.

But ultimately all these strong horses—and all the horses are strong, not only the speckled ones—traverse the whole earth to execute God’s command and counsel to the very end.

And that end is this: God’s Spirit finds rest in the north country! Oh, the north country is Babylon; yes, she above all is the world power. There—yes, there, emphatically—resides the spirit of antichrist. There the dragon reigns! But God’s Spirit shall find rest in Babylon, and therefore throughout the entire world, which shall be conquered to make way for the tabernacle of God among men forevermore.

Behold, I will make all things new!

Soon it will be Sabbath!

The rest of God’s Spirit!