Revelation 1:1
"The Revelation (apocalypse, i.e unveiling)
of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to declare to His servants things which must shortly come to pass. And He signified it by sending His angel to His servant John."
The scroll containing the Apocalypse
would still be sealed, were the Lamb of God not slain for the sins of men, because no other man or angel was worthy to loosen its seals (Revelation 5:1-14).
Jesus is the Lamb who gives His churches the Apocalypse,
and He unseals (unveils) the scroll of the Apocalypse Himself. It's not up to us to "unveil" it because we cannot, and we are not worthy. Only Jesus is worthy and able to unveil (unseal) the scroll.
So
whatever type of crown the New Testament associates with the word stéphanos (crown) in each and every other New Testament verse using the word, is the type of crown the New Testament is teaching us to associate with the rider of the white horse;
and
the same goes for the color white: Whatever the Revelation associates with the color white in each and every other verse where the color white appears, is what the Revelation is teaching us to associate with the rider of the white horse.
So the unveiling of Jesus (Revelation 1:1) gives us the meaning of the first two horses (the first two seals) of the Apocalypse.
Despite the above facts, and despite the fact that Jesus alone is able and worthy to loosen the seals but we cannot because we are not able or worthy, many Christians have produced their own "unveiling" when it comes to the meaning of the white horse and its horseman.
So with regard to this, let us remember the following biblical principle:
"By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every matter be established"
This principle was established by God. It is recorded in Deuteronomy 17:6 and Deuteronomy 19:15; and employed both by Jesus and His apostles (Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1).
The two witnesses as to those the white horse's rider signify are (1) The type of crown; and (2) the color white.
1. Christ's witnesses are symbolized on a white horse in the first seal of the Apocalypse wearing the same stephanos crown they are seen with throughout the New Testament and the Revelation.
2. Christ's armies are following Him on white horse and they are clothed in white when He comes on a white horse to destroy the beast.
Third witness: The method by which the red horse is conquering the world is the exact opposite of the method by which the white horse conquers, and the red horse is the exact same color as the red dragon - the only two verses in the entire New Testament where that word for "red" is found.
Let
the text in the New Testament and the Revelation itself reveal who is and who is not producing his own "unveiling" as regard to the first seal of the Apocalypse - the first seal of the seven
which Jesus Himself, the only one worthy to loose the seals - loosened in order to unveil the scroll of the Apocalypse. He has given us two witnesses in the text of the New Testament and the Revelation as to who the rider of the white horse might symbolize( i.e the witnesses of Christ), and who it most certainly
does not symbolize.