Zechariah 1:8

"I saw in the night, and, behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white."

I saw in the night ..." Although it was night, the prophet made it clear throughout that he was not asleep. It was no dream that he "saw" but an objective vision that he observed, whether by literal eyesight or some inner power of observation we do not know.

A man riding upon a red horse ..." From Genesis 25:30, it is seen that this color is actually a reddish-brown. We are convinced that we should identify the rider here with the angel of the Lord introduced later. Those "behind him" were "those agencies that God employs for the correction and punishment of men: war, fire, and victory on his part."[20] The function of these agencies is not outlined in the vision, the "patrol" upon which they had been engaged being but a fraction, no doubt, of their total utility in the economy of God. The effect of such a view of the legions of supernatural beings engaged in doing the will of God would be one of amazement and encouragement. It is impossible not to find in Revelation 6 a more detailed and expanded vision of these same agencies, the very same figure being employed. Nor should it surprise us a little later in the vision to find that the Angel of the Covenant, Christ himself, controls and directs this vast resource of Divine power; for in Revelation, it is Christ himself who leads the van, riding upon a white horse! (See my commentary on Revelation, p. 135f.)

That school of interpreters which has abandoned all objective standards and launched out into the "deep" of their own subjective imaginations in order to "discover" the meaning of Biblical passages (!) offer some bizarre opinions. For example, McFadyen, explained this horse-vision as having been suggested to the prophet's mind, "by the sight of Persian cavalry scouts!"[21]

"Nothing in the text or the fact portrayed is in the least at variance with the claim that the thought as well as the form in which it was cast was given by God."[22]

This prophecy is important, millenniums after it was given, solely because Almighty God is believed to be the author of it. A revealing glimpse of eternal realities is afforded by what God showed to Zechariah.

Myrtle trees that were in the bottom ..." This tree, famed for its fragrance, was once abundant in Palestine. Pusey thought that the lowly character of the tree and its sweet odor suggested such qualities later revealed in God's Church and characteristic of his true people in all ages.