The true word on a white horse, part 2

Revelation 19:12 says,

¹² And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself.

Eyes are said to be the windows of the soul. The One seated on the white horse has eyes that “are a flame of fire.” Fire represents God Himself and is meant to portray His nature. When God appeared to the people at Mount Sinai to give them the Ten Commandments, He appeared only as fire.

Eyes of Fire

Deuteronomy 5:4, 5 says,

⁴ The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, ⁵ while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain…

Israel was called “up the mountain,” but they were too afraid of God and thought that hearing His voice would kill them (Exodus 20:19). The fire of God would not have killed them physically, of course, but the righteous nature of God certainly would have killed their Adamic “flesh,” or what Paul called the “old man” (Romans 6:6 KJV; Ephesians 4:22 KJV). By protecting the “old man,” Israel was unable to enter into the New Covenant and had to settle for a lesser covenant, which we call the Old Covenant.

Moses also tells us in Deuteronomy 4:12,

¹² Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice.

So in Revelation 19, Jesus Christ comes as the living Word. Whereas Israel heard only a voice, but saw no form, Jesus Christ was the Word (John 1:1) that came down from heaven, taking the form of the Son of Man so that we might overcome our fear of fire.

The Word made flesh, then, is pictured in Revelation 19:12 coming on a white horse, having eyes of fire. The eyes reveal His nature, though His body cloaks that nature in human form.

Many Diadems

Revelation 19:12 tells us that “upon His head are many diadems,” or diadema in Greek. This is not a stephanos, which is “a victor’s wreath,” but a kingly ornament. He wears not just one, but many, because He “is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5).

These diadems had been worn previously by the red dragon (Revelation 12:3) and by the beast from the sea (Revelation 13:1). However, once they are overthrown, their diadems are taken from them and given to the rightful Heir of all nations, the “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16).

The Unknown Name

Revelation 19:12 says, “and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself.” The phrase “upon Him” is not in the original and is only the opinion of the NASB translator. Other versions do not share that opinion:

“He had a name written that no man knew, but He Himself” (KJV).

“having a Name written which no one knows except himself” (The Emphatic Diaglott)

“having names written of which no one except Himself is aware” (The Concordant Version)

So the first question is this: Where is this name written? It is written “upon Him,” that is, upon His clothing or perhaps even upon His body as a heavenly tattoo? Or is the name written on the diadems that He wears on His head? If we use the Concordant Version, which uses the plural (“names”), we could read the verse to say, “upon His head are many diadems, having names written (on them) which no one but He knows.”

Perhaps these are the identities of the various nations written on the diadems. Perhaps these are new names for those nations, which reflect their true callings as Kingdom nations.

On the other hand, if this is a single name, and if it is meant to identify the Word riding on the white horse, we have to ask ourselves why it was such a secret. The name of Jesus is well known, as well as the Hebrew form of His name, Yeshua. It may be that the secret name is a reference to YHVH, the name revealed to Moses (Exodus 6:2, 3), whose pronunciation was lost in later years, because the people refused to speak that name for fear of taking His name in vain.

If this is the case, then Jesus Himself would be identified by the name of YHVH, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 12:2, “for YAH YHVH is my strength and song, and He has become my Yeshua.”

In the end, one’s view of the name itself probably depends upon the place where it is written. If it is written on the diadems, it probably identifies the nations in some way; but if it is written on the Word Himself, or on His robe, it would surely identify Himself.

The Robe

Revelation 19:13 says,

¹³ And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.

Here we see the Rider identified BY NAME—“The Word of God”—immediately after telling us about the unknown name(s) in the previous verse. The clear implication is that “The Word of God” is not the same as the secret name from verse 12. Otherwise, there would be no point in keeping the name secret. This probably indicates that the secret name is not the name of the Rider, but is the name (or names) on the diadems.

His “robe dipped in blood” is a reference to Joseph’s robe, which was dipped in blood. Genesis 37:31 says,

³¹ So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood.

The second coming of Christ is based on the Joseph pattern, whereas His first coming was based on the pattern of Judah. Christ came the first time of the tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:14), because the scepter had been given to Judah, and later to David, who was of Judah. Hence, it was necessary for Him to come as a descendant of Judah and David to receive the Dominion Mandate (Genesis 1:26) that was promised to Judah in Genesis 49:10.

However, Joseph had been given the birthright (1 Chronicles 5:1, 2), because Jacob had divided up the blessing between his sons. The divided kingdom separated the scepter from the birthright after the death of Solomon, and this breach had to be repaired through Christ. So Hosea 1:11 says,

¹¹ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel [including the tribes of Joseph] will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one Leader….

Likewise, Ezekiel 37:19 says,

¹⁹ Say to them, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand’.”

By reuniting Judah with Joseph in the hand of Christ, the full blessing of the scepter and the birthright are united under one Head. This repair of the breach can only take place through the Messiah, and it is the main reason He much come twice. In His first coming to claim His scepter and throne, the priestly leaders in Jerusalem opposed Him and induced the people to reject His claim. Nonetheless, He did the prophetic work that was required of the Messiah, and then ascended, in part, to file an appeal in the heavenly court and then return (Luke 19:12).

In the second coming, Jesus Christ claims His birthright, which is the Fruitfulness Mandate to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). This is the right to bring forth the sons of God. So Jacob’s blessing upon Joseph says, “Joseph is a fruitful bough” [ben, “son”]. It would take a second coming not only to claim this birthright, but to unite it with the scepter of Judah, thus reuniting the two sticks of Judah and Joseph and repairing the great breach in the Kingdom.

When this occurs, Christ then has the lawful right to be fruitful and multiply children in His image. This is the basis of the Sonship message and “the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19 KJV).

Therefore, when Revelation 19:13 identifies the Word of God as having His robe dipped in blood, we are being told that He is coming as “Joseph” to claim the birthright and unite it with the scepter of Judah which He has won by divine decree in the heavenly court.

The two comings of Christ are also prophesied in Leviticus 14:1-7 in the law of the healing of leprosy. Leprosy is a type of mortality (a slow death), and this particular law prophesies to us the path to immortality. It takes two birds to cleanse lepers (Leviticus 14:4). The first was to be killed, and the second was to be dipped in the blood of the first bird and released into the open field (Leviticus 14:6, 7).

Both birds prophesy of Jesus Christ, the first setting forth His death, and the other showing how He must be released into “the open field” (that is, the world—Matthew 13:38). In other words, Christ must come a second time, having been “dipped in blood” in order to complete the work of bringing the sons of God into immortality. Without this second work of Christ, the sons of God might be able to rule under the Dominion Mandate, but they would remain mortal. We know that God does not intend for His sons to remain mortal.

Revelation 19:13 shows the fulfillment of the second bird being released into the open field. It is Christ coming into the world to do a living work, unlike His first coming as the bird that was to be killed in an earthen vessel (body). The purpose of His second coming is to claim the birthright of Joseph, so that the sons of God can be manifested and be made immortal, giving them the ability to rule the earth during the Tabernacles Age and beyond.