Jesus, Our Conquering Leader

Revelation 19:13-15

Recap:

· Being introduced to Jesus here at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb

· He has made a grand entrance sharing two of his titles “faithful and true”

· He is preparing to come and judge the world and make war.

Verse 13 “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood”

· Now the clothing we see here plays a symbolic role.

· First, this color illustrates royalty. The scarlet color, the purple hues was a symbol of royalty.

· During Biblical times, this color was extremely hard to achieve, so only the wealthy wore these colors.

· While this may refer to his kingship, I think it really holds more his sacrifice that he made on Calvary.

· When you here blood and Christ, it can’t help but remind us of the sacrifice he made.

· It is because of the blood that was shed by Jesus that we have remission of sins.

· Now remember, he is about to go to judge and make war. And he has on his battle attire.

· When a soldier goes out to battle, he puts on his gear, he will put on the lifesaving equipment that he needs to get him through the battle.

· Here, Jesus comes out with this vesture dipped in blood and that is the life saving garment that we must have on as well.

· Now remember when Pharaoh in the book of Exodus wouldn’t let the people go, and God finally sent the death angel to take the lives of the first born. What was the only thing that prevented the death angel from taking a life? It was the blood that was on the door post.

· Friend, if we don’t have the blood of Jesus on our hearts door, we are bound for hell.

· This blood dipped garment is the battle garment of the Lord.

“And his name is called the Word of God.”

· As John bares witness to this glorious appearance, his description of the Lord is reminiscent of his writing in the gospel of John.

· John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

· Do you know what you hold in your hand? You hold Jesus. This book is a living book.

· How many people wish they could hear Jesus speak? Well they can, all they have to do is read and hear his words.

· Sadly, people mistreat the word of God just like they did Jesus when he walked the earth.

· They try to look through it, and misread it, they will say it contradicts itself. They will rail all sorts of accusations, but the truth is they do not know the word of God.

· They do not know Jesus, because if they knew him, then they would know the Bible.

· When we disregard reading and studying the Bible, we disregard our relationship with Christ.

· How can we have a relationship with him if we never hear from him? It is imperative that we give ourselves to the Word of God, for when we do, we give ourselves to Jesus.

· We read other books, but the Bible is the only book that reads me.

· Dwight L Moody once said – this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.

· Know the Word of God!

Vs 14 – And the armies which were in heaven followed him”

· Now here is the bridegroom, the one who is faithful and true, and he commands armies.

· Who are the armies that follow him? Well I believe that it is made up of different groups, hence the terminology of armies (plural).

· The armies will be made up of:

o Angels

§ Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.”

§ 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power”

o Saints

§ Jude 1:14 “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints”

§ Old Testament, New Testament, Tribulation Saints

· These armies operate at the command of Jesus, who I might add is not at the back of the line.

· You see where armies want to keep their upper officers at a safe distance, but that is not how Jesus does it.

· Jesus is a leader, and he is out front. The armies follow him, following his lead.

“Upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”

· Now, we are also made aware of the armies attire and transportation.

· First, we see they are riding white horses. These horses are spotless, they reflect the purity and holiness that Christ has bestowed upon them.

· You may not know how to ride a horse right now, but you will get on the job training.

· The armies are clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

· This is not some polyester blend, this isn’t rayon or some cheap fabric, this is fine linen. This is something that feels good to wear.

· These are the garments of Jesus, the clothes that he has pulled out from his own closet to dress us in.

· They have been tailored to fit us perfectly. The garments of today fail in comparison to their design. The look of these garments exceed the values of anything that man can design today.

· These have been made by the hands of the Lord, and they are of great beauty.

· You may not realize it, but white is your color.

· These garments are not stained, no wore out knees, no rips in the seams, they are white and clean.

· No frazzled strings, no dirt on any spot of the garment.

· Tide, Gain, Clorox, none of these can match the cleaning power that these garment have.

· No more laundry duty. I believe that these garments are never soiled, never stained, never stink, because they are from the Lord.

Vs 15 “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations”

· Now the Lord is the word of God, and we know that the word of God has been compared to a two edged sword.

· The armies are not shown to have weapons, but there is only one weapon that we find. And it is found right on the lips of Christ.

· Listen, there is no weapon that is formed of man, that can strike Christ down. And the Lord only needs to speak the words to defeat the enemy.

· When Christ returns to earth, he will only have to say to them, drop dead. And they will fall.

· Why is this possible? Because Jesus is God, and if God can speak creation into existence, he can destroy it the same way.

· So his Word is His Weapon

· And how will he wield this weapon? Well the scripture tells us that he will smite the nations.

· He will speak judgment onto each of the nations of the world. The horrible things that have taken place in Africa, the slavery that has taken place in the Americas, the atrocities that have taken place in Europe and Asia, all the nations that make up these places will be judged.

· Jesus will smite them with his words, the words that they have ignored and denied for so long, they will hear finally from the source.

· There will be no refusing to listen at this time, for every ear will hear the words of Jesus.

“And he shall rule them with a rod of iron”

· As Jesus tears down the governments of the world, he establishes himself to his rightful place, as ruler of this world.

· When Christ returns, there will not be a democratic government, no communism, no socialism, no fascism, or any other form of government. Friend there will be a monarchy.

· There will not be amendment of laws, there will not be a court in California that will overturn the ruling of the King. He will rule them and what he says goes.

· Just as a shepherd kept a rod to use to correct the sheep and protect the sheep, Jesus will use the rod, symbolic of a shepherds rod, to protect us from all the evil influence that resides in this world.

· We will not have to fear what will be on tv, we will not have to worry about what is on the internet, we will not have to worry what life is like in other parts of the world, because Jesus will be in control.

· I mean, no one will usurp the authority and reign of Jesus. He will protect and defend this world.

“And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

· The final statement echoes the rule of Christ. Those who oppose him will be stamped out. There will be none who will spoil his reign.

· All the evil and sin of this world, will feel the wrath of Almighty God. There will be no escaping it. This will be the judgment on their lives.