The Guardian of Armageddon

The sensation of warm, wet slobber sliding down his cheek stirred Sol to hazy semi-consciousness. He squinted against the dim light as he struggled to focus his thoughts and his body to move. Groaning, Sol fought the blankets that bound him as he cracked open his eyes. All he could see was not even a dim light but pitch blackness. His foggy, stinging eyes begged to close again.   Sol counted to twenty-five, then rolled onto his back in desperation. Suddenly, a booming resonance reverberated, filling the room with an echo that filled every corner of the room. A bright, radiant light flooded the room banishing the shadows and transforming the room into a sanctuary of brilliant splendor. Sol’s hands flew to his face to shield his eyes from the blinding presence, but even with his eyes closed, he could see it.             What is happening? His body shook. A vision as real as life yet as startling as from another dimension had invaded his room. A wall of near-blinding light had instantaneously flooded the space with the sound of thunder, then as if as on a wide movie screen it ripped down the center from top to bottom. Sol struggled to adjust to gain full awareness of what was happening. The room appeared to open a wormhole into another dimension. Then a great white horse broke through the opening and drew closer and closer to him, like watching a stallion thundering across the screen, then galloping down the aisle. A human form draped in a dazzling white robe with a brilliant crown on his head rode the steed. The horse’s hooves moved at breakneck speed as if the galloping horse was flying—but in slow motion. Sol tried to pinch himself to wake up—he could not move. He tried to shake his head and limbs, but they refused to respond. Sol tried to lean forward, straining to focus on the horse’s rider[i] as the horse drew closer. The rider was waving a bow with a stunning crown on his head. As the steed appeared ready to crash into his space, Sol blinked, waiting for the beast to trample him. I must wake up! Wake up! Damn it, wake up! The horse stood on his hind legs with his forelegs thrashing upward as they do in movies when the hero is ready to gallop off victoriously. The rider’s mouth didn’t move, but a mysterious voice, independent of the rider, spoke in a deep echoing voice that reverberated throughout the room, “The King of Kings has come to conquer sin and death and to redeem His people from every tribe and tongue.” [ii]   The steed’s ears were penned back and front feet pawing the air. “The Lord God Himself is about to pour out His wrath upon the earth, but His promise is to deliver a faithful Jewish remnant through God’s greatest judgments culminating in the great Battle called Armageddon. [iii] You, Sol, have been chosen as a witness to lead God’s chosen remnant through unprecedented tribulation.” Sol struggled, grappling with, even denying the potential reality of his vision. He was confused and puzzled. Am I not Solomon Cohen, a simple news reporter for the Jerusalem Post? Why has this strange dream come to me? Okay, I’m ready to wake up—this is ridiculous. I certainly am not a godly saint—anything but. How can I be the chosen one? Has this epiphany come to the wrong person? This steed has entered the wrong apartment. I can’t even save my brother so how could I save a chosen people. Sounds ridiculous. [i] Seal one, White horse: the rapture and sealing of 144,000 Revelation 6:1-2 Many interpret the white horse  as the symbol of Antichrist coming to conquer. This book interprets the white horse as Christ’s coming for the Church.  The first white horse revealed in Revelation 6:2, comes to conqueror (stephanos as Hebrews 2:9). In Revelation 19:12, The white horse comes as the victorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords (diadems).  Zane C. Hodges, "The Frist Horseman of the Apocalypse," Biblotheca Sacra, 1962, 324-334. If the first horse is a symbol of Satan then the following three horses seem to be Satan’s judgments not God’s.  [ii] 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” While it doesn’t close the case, it certainly favors the removal of the Church prior to the tribulation. [iii] 1Thessalonians 5:4-10 “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise  you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or  to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let  us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did  not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that,  whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.”