The Return of Jesus

Series Intro / where we are at.

Four victories that Jesus wins:

1. Victory over Babylon (19:1-10)

Revelation 19:1–10 NLT

1 After this, I heard what sounded like a vast crowd in heaven shouting, “Praise the Lord! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. 2 His judgments are true and just. He has punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the murder of his servants.” 3 And again their voices rang out: “Praise the Lord! The smoke from that city ascends forever and ever!” 4 Then the twenty-four elders and the four living beings fell down and worshiped God, who was sitting on the throne. They cried out, “Amen! Praise the Lord!” 5 And from the throne came a voice that said, “Praise our God, all his servants, all who fear him, from the least to the greatest.” 6 Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. 8 She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers and sisters who testify about their faith in Jesus. Worship only God. For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus.”

The worship we read about in the first half of chapter 19 is a result of what happened before that. In chapter 17, we are introduced to a great city named Babylon which is personified as the great prostitute or harlot. This city is the antithesis of the kingdom of God where instead of holiness, she pursues hedonism. Instead of morality, she pursues immorality. Instead of humility, she pursues pride. This city persecutes and kills the people of God. It even says she is drunk on the blood of God’s holy people. Life in this city is opposite to the way of the lamb in every way possible.

When the seventh bowl of God’s wrath is poured out, this city of evil breaks apart and is destroyed. Jesus is victorious over Babylon! And as a result, angels and the people of God rejoice throughout Chapter 18 and into our passage today.

Here’s what’s fascinating about this worship: Four times in chapter 19, the angels declare “Praise the Lord” or “Hallelujah,” depending on your translation. A word that is very familiar to us, right? But these four times in chapter 19 of the last book of the Bible are the only places in the entire new testament where this word appears. It’s not found in the gospels, any of Paul’s writings, or any of the pastoral epistles. Only here. So where do we get this word, which is so common in Christian worship, from? We get it from the Psalms.

Specifically, it is used the most often in Psalms 113-118, which are called the “hallel” psalms. The significance of this is that these psalms were often used in worship during the passover celebration - Psalms 113-114 before supper and Psalms 115-118 after supper. They sang these psalms because they praise God for his victory over Egypt where he utilized terrible plagues to free Israel from slavery.

I find it fascinating to see that in the New Testament, in the only place where the word “Hallelujah” occurs, the kingdom of God celebrates how God freed his people, through terrible plagues, from a city that opposes God’s purposes and oppresses God’s people. To drive this connection a little deeper, let’s look at the two meals. Passover, where they sung these psalms, was celebrated by a special meal, intended to remind the people of what God did for them. And here in Revelation, we have another meal - the marriage supper of the lamb.

Throughout the whole bible, there is allusions and mentions of God’s people being the “bride” to God. The prophet Isaiah says,

Isaiah 54:5–6 NLT

5 For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth. 6 For the Lord has called you back from your grief— as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband,” says your God.

And in the New Testament, Paul writes,

2 Corinthians 11:2 NLT

2 For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.

The book of revelation, has set up a contrast between the pure bride that is God’s people and the immoral harlot that is Babylon, because these two kingdoms stand diametrically opposed to one another in their morals, their ethos. While the kingdom of Babylon, where anything goes and God is hated may look powerful on earth, in the end, it will be destroyed. In contrast, the bride of Christ, which by following the way of the lamb will look less impressive, be less entertaining and come with extra hardship, will endure forever and be united to our groom, Jesus the Christ. Now that’s a great reason to cry out “hallelujah.”

As we have seen, the book of Revelation is a series of visions. “Then I saw” or something like that appears 17 times in the book. So after “seeing” the destruction of Babylon and the celebration that ensues because of it, now John sees something else.

2. Victory over The Beast, The False Prophet and their followers (19:11-21)

Revelation 19:11–16 NLT

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. 12 His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. 15 From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. 16 On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

Did you notice what John saw? He saw heaven opened. Have you ever tried to imagine Heaven? What did you imagine it to be like? Most of us try to picture it like a place, but John doesn’t see a place. When Heaven is opened, he sees a person - he sees Jesus. In my time as a pastor, the two most common things I hear people who are middle-aged and younger excited about when it comes to heaven is 1) being reunited with their loved ones who have died and 2) Enjoying an idyllic existence where everything is awesome and everyone is perfectly happy.

But here is where the beauty of age comes in. I have had the privilege of walking with a few saints in their late 80’s and early 90’s as they prepared to die. And the thing they were most looking forward to was Jesus. And that should be what all Christians should anticipate the most - meeting Jesus face to face.

John sees heaven opened and he sees Jesus. But not just the Jesus the lamb who was slain. Here we see warrior Jesus - riding upon a white horse to exact his victory over the beast, the false prophet and their followers. that he wHere Jesus captures the beast and the false prophet and throws them into a fiery lake of burning sulphur. Here, all those who rode out to oppose Jesus and the kingdom of God in battle are destroyed. Jesus is victorious.

Pastor, professor and author Darrell Johnson believes that this section of chapter 19 answers two questions: Why does Jesus win this battle and how?

Why does Jesus win this battle? Because of who he is!

He is faithful to God and to humanity, proven by his sacrifice on the cross. He is true because as the Holy one, there is no deceit in him whatsoever. His eyes like flames of fire, seeing the truth in every situation and in every person. His head has a multitude of crowns, showing the extent of his rule, reign, power and authority.

He has a name only he understood. It was believed that if you knew the name of a person, or more specifically of a god, then you had power over them. But no one has power over Jesus for he is the Almighty Creator of everything!! He has a name no one knows.

He has a robe dipped in blood. This is a key image because we have to see that the robe is dipped in blood before he goes off to the battle. So who’s blood is it? It’s his. His victory over evil has already been won on the cross.

He is the word of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. There was never a doubt about who would win in this battle between the evil spiritual rulers and Jesus. It’s like Usain Bolt racing against a one-year old. It’s like Superman in a fist-fight against a 90 year old asthmatic with a bad hip. The battle was always one-sided because of who Jesus is.

But how does Jesus win? This is really interesting. Jesus, who rides into battle on this white horse with an army behind him, wins simply by speaking. There is no sword clashing battle. The sword that revelation 19 mentions comes from his mouth. It’s a symbol for speaking. Jesus shows up and with a word, it’s all over. And it’s no wonder. There is power in the words of Jesus.

With a word, he brought forth creation. With a word, he calmed the stormy sea. With a word, he brought forth Lazarus from the grave. With a word, he silenced demons and brought spiritual liberation to people. The word of God is powerful and it ends the spiritual battle. Jesus has victory over the Beast, the false prophet and all those who embraced their evil ways in opposition to one, true God.

As we move on to chapter 20, the vision shifts again. John sees something else. And what is important to remember is that just because John sees something next, it does not necessarily happen next. The book of Revelation is not chronological - some things that John sees happen before things that he saw already. So what does John see next? He sees Jesus having victory over the dragon.

3. Victory over the Dragon (20:1-10)

John sees an angel binding the serpent for 1000 years. Now this is the only place in all the Bible where this millenium with Satan bound is mentioned. Some people think that the millenium is still to come and Jesus will reign on earth for a literal 1000 years and the gospel will go forth unimpeded. Others believe that the millenium is a figurative time frame that will happen some time in the future. Others hold to a belief that we are in the millenium right now and that it began with Jesus’s birth and continues until he comes again.

But no matter what you believe about this millenium, what’s important to remember is that it is bracketed by the victory of Jesus over Satan, the dragon. Before the millenium, Jesus captures and imprisons the dragon so his influence and power are diminished. After the millenium, the dragon is released where, after he retaliates against God’s people, Jesus throws him into the same lake of burning sulfur that he threw the beast and false prophet into.

The concept of the millenium, whatever it actually is, reminds us that our God wins. We can declare with Paul,

1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV

57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the beginning and at the end of the millenium, Jesus is victorious over the dragon, proving that we who have chosen to put our faith in Jesus have chosen the winning side.

Let’s move into the second half of chapter 20, and see the fourth and final scene of John’s vision from these two chapters.

4. Victory over Death (20:11-14)

Revelation 20:11–14 NLT

11 And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. 12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. 14 Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.

John sees that Jesus even has victory over death. The whole throne room scene from chapter 4 is zoomed in to just the throne and the one sitting upon it. And now we see the task set before the one on the throne, the judgment of humanity. Now, there are three points about this section that I love:

Everyone is judged (great and small) - yes, Prime Ministers, Presidents, and Premiers get judged. But so do you and I. No matter what our station in life was, we all enter into God’s judgment the same.

We are judged according to our deeds. This does not mean that we are saved by doing good things. No, we still hold that we are saved by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. But we also believe that what we do flows from what we believe. Our faith is proved by our works and so God judges us, not based on our intentions or our wills, but on what we actually do in this life, in the ways that our faith impacts the way we live.

Death and the grave give up their dead. Even they cannot resist the power and call of our Lord our God. And then, they are thrown into the lake of fire. This is amazing! Our faith is full of such great news. There will come a time when there is no more death! The thing that many of us fear the most is destroyed. Our God is victorious against all things that oppose his will and it is God’s will and pleasure to give those who believe in Jesus eternal life.

As we have looked at these two amazing chapters of Revelation, I have three take away points for you to pontificate.

1. By faith in Jesus, you are a part of the bride of Christ

You are secure in God’s love

You must be on guard against all idolatry because idolatry is adultery

We need to be ready for the coming of the groom

2. Jesus is victorious over every enemy that opposes him.

We enter into our spiritual battles from a place of victory

How did Jesus defeat his enemies? With a word. There is power and victory in knowing, living and speaking the word of God into your situations.

3. How we live matters.

We are judged by what we do so its important that we live in such a way as to declare with each of our decisions, each of our words, each of our interactions with others that Jesus is THE King.

Conclusion

I read an anecdote about a little girl who was talking to her mom after church, where she had been taught about the Second Coming of Jesus. "Mommy, do you believe Jesus will come back?" "Yes."  "Today?"   "Maybe."    "In a few minutes?"   "You never know."   "Mommy, would you comb my hair?"

This little girl knew that she had to get ready to meet Jesus. Now, I don’t believe Jesus cares if our hair is combed when he comes, or at least I hope not, but he does care if we are living victorious, free and holy lives in his name. The good news of the gospel, and in our passage today, is that in the end, Jesus wins. Hallelujah.

Pray.