Sermon Tone Analysis

Series Intro / where we are at.

Four victories that Jesus wins:

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

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,

And in the New Testament, Paul writes,

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)

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.