{The heaven opened} (	on ouranon (886e)e(9369)gmenon). Perfect
passive participle (triple reduplication) of anoig(935c). Accusative
case after eidon. So Ezekiel ( 1:1 ) begins his prophecy. See
also the baptism of Jesus ( Mt 3:16  Lu 3:21 , but schizomenous
in  Mr 1:10 ). Jesus predicted the opened heavens to Nathanael
( Joh 1:51 ). In  Re 4:1  a door is opened in heaven, the
sanctuary is opened ( 11:19  15:5 ), angels come out of heaven
( 10:1  14:17  18:1 ), and sounds come from heaven ( 19:1 ).
{Behold, a white horse} (idou hippos leukos). Nominative case
because of idou, not eidon. Cf.  6:2  for hippos leukos.
The emblem of victory in both cases, but the riders are very
different. Here it is the Messiah who is the Warrior, as is made
plain by "Faithful and True" (pistos kai al(8874)hinos), epithets
already applied to Christ ( 1:5  3:7,14 ). Cf. also  22:6 . {In
righteousness he doth judge and make war} (en dikaiosun(8869) krinei
kai polemei). See  Isa 11:3ff . The Messiah is both Judge and
Warrior, but he does both in righteousness ( 15:3  16:5,7  19:2 ). He passes judgment on the beast (antichrist) and makes
war on him. Satan had offered Christ a victory of compromise
which was rejected.