Is the second horseman in Revelation 6:3-4 Nebuchanezzar king of Babylon?

Question

Revelation 6:3-4:

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And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and behold!’

and there went forth another horse – red, and to him who is sitting upon it, there was given to him to take the peace from the land, and that one another they may slay, and there was given to him a great sword.

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Isaiah 27:1 says God's sword is a great sword:

In that day lay a charge doth Jehovah, With his sword – the sharp, and the great, and the strong, On leviathan – a fleeing serpent, And on leviathan – a crooked serpent, And He hath slain the dragon that is in the sea.

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Ezekiel 30:22-24 quotes God saying he will give his sword to the king of Babylon:

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Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, And I have broken his arms, The strong one and the broken one, And have caused the sword to fall out of his hand,

And scattered the Egyptians among nations, And I have spread them through lands,

And strengthened the arms of the king of Babylon, And I have given My sword into his hand, And I have broken the arms of Pharaoh, And he groaned the groans of a pierced one – before him.

And I have strengthened the arms of the king of Babylon, And the arms of Pharaoh do fall down, And they have known that I am Jehovah, In My giving My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, And he hath stretched it out toward the land of Egypt.

And I have scattered the Egyptians among nations, And I have spread them through lands, And they have known that I am Jehovah!’

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So is the horseman in Revelation 6:3-4 referring to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon?

Answer 1

The answer to this question depends on what you want to make of the book of Revelation and its many prophecies. There have been several approaches to this including:

• Assuming that the events depicted in Revelation were largely fulfilled during the first century or soon after. This is often called "pretism".
• Assuming that the events depicted describe events throughout Christian history - called "historicism"
• Assuming events depicted describe events largely at the end of time - called futurism.
• Assuming events depicted are allegories for spiritual lessons for each of us - called the spiritual interpretation.

I personally do not believe any one of these systems is entirely accurate nor entirely wrong. However, all believe that John was describing events either in the near and/or distant future. He says this explicitly in Rev 1:1, 19, 22:6.

Many have noticed the numerous verbal and allusional parallels between Revelation and the OT stories. This does not mean that John was depicting these events but simply using them in a metaphoric way to describe future events.

Therefore, I do not believe John is describing the king of Babylon in the second seal but some other event soon to occur but using imagery from the OT story.

Answer 2

Try looking at the characters of Revelation as trojan horses filled with multiple layers of fulfillment throughout time. The pharisees had linear thinking and so do most of us in the western hemisphere. But Revelation is eternal and omnipotent, not linear. Out of 440 or so verses in revelation, more than 220 of them are directly pulled from the old testament prophecies. So trying to understand Revelation without the rest of the book is like holding a key with no teeth on it. That being said said, the enemy likes to string us along using Time as a god, pulling our focus away from that which matters most. Forget the future. Be in the present. That is where your life is. You are where you are for such a time as this, not then. In the present is where you are called to be. Reading revelation will go well with you as the Lord has promised. But the purpose of the book is to reveal Christ IN YOU, not other places or things as the kingdom does not come with observation. It flows out of your like living water. Its SUPERNATURAL :) Shalom !