Zechariah’s Visions: The Four Chariots

“And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.” (Zechariah 6:1)

These four great angelic creatures appear in several roles in Scripture. They are specifically identified as “four spirits” and are positioned “before the LORD of all the earth” (Zechariah 6:5). They come out from between two mountains of brass to walk “to and fro through the earth” (Zechariah 6:7). The horses are the same color as the horses in Revelation 6, indicating that these horsemen are age-long angelic authorities that execute and implement God’s will in the earth.

The four living creatures seen by Ezekiel may be the chariots that the horsemen are riding in Ezekiel 1:5. Those living creatures have four faces and four wings (Ezekiel 1:6), and a “wheel was on the earth beside each living creature” (Ezekiel 1:15).

The similar descriptions and connection with the book of world judgment in Zechariah and Revelation argue for a close relationship with four special creatures that are directly positioned with, and to, the throne of the Second Person of the Godhead—the Lamb of God. The differences are tantalizing but can easily be understood as eyewitness testimony by different people at different times in history.

Zechariah was told of their work in the “north country” (Babylon, Gog, and Magog) and in the “south country” (Egypt, Libya). Given Daniel’s previous prophecy of the north and south (Daniel 11), Zechariah would understand the future focus of the horsemen as history moved forward. “They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). HMM III