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overcomers. The evidence is accumulative and overwhelming, that the OVERCOMER is
the key to the Revelation, and to the essential character of the Millennium.
The word mostly translated "white" in the Revelation is the Greek leukos, but in
two references (Rev. 15: 6 and 19: 8), the word is lampros translated elsewhere by
"gorgeous", "bright", "goodly", "gay" and "clear" (Luke 23: 11; Acts 10: 30;
James 2: 2, 3; Rev. 22: 1). The usage of the word "white" in the Revelation suggests a
threefold subdivision:
1. The Lord Himself.
2. The Overcomers.
3. Judgment.
(1) The Lord Himself. First as King-Priest. Then as King of kings (Rev. 1: 14;
19: 11). The three descriptions of the Transfiguration refer to the opening vision of
Rev. 1::
"He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment
was white as the light" (Matt. 17: 2).
"His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can
white them" (Mark 9: 3).
"The fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and
glistering" (Luke 9: 29).
White as light, white as snow, white as lightning. Peter tells us that on that mountain
he, with James and John, were eye-witnesses of His Majesty, and that the prophecy of the
Second Coming was made even "more sure". At the Second Coming, He Who is called
Faithful and True is seen coming out of heaven seated upon a white horse, and coming in
righteousness to judge and make war. Any interpretation that evades, ignores or
minimizes this express statement of Scripture must necessarily be rejected by all who love
and believe the Word.
The words "judge and make war" are expanded in 19: 15 where we have such
adjuncts of discipline and extreme severity as "a sharp sword", "smite the nations", "rule
them with a rod of iron", "tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty
God". There is no exegetical necessity or justification in dividing Rev. 19: 21 from
Rev. 20: 1. The dealing with the beast and the false prophet, the slaying of the remnant,
and the binding of Satan are all leading up to the Millennial reign, which at its conclusion
finds enough insubordination to justify the terms "Gog and Magog", "the sand of the sea"
and destruction by "fire" from God out of heaven.
The white horse of Rev. 6: 2 under the opening of the first seal, is Satan's travesty of
Christ. This rider is not followed by the armies of heaven, faithful and true, but by war,
famine, pestilence, death, martyrdom and the wrath of the Lamb.
(2) The Overcomer.
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a
white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that
receiveth it" (Rev. 2: 17).