Revelation 19.11-21 Garden to Garden

The armies of earth gather

We are one week out from finishing the garden to garden city series. Now remember that the constant problem that scripture has been dealing with is this:

How can God who is pure and holy and perfectly just, live with his people, who are impure, sinful, and unjust. The two simply don’t mix.

And as scripture has been unfolding this has been progressively answered.

We learnt that sin will be dealt with first and foremost when the seed of Adam and Eve, the child, will crush the head of the serpent Satan. The church has always understood this to be a promise God makes that one day, Jesus would defeat Satan.

Let’s call this the snake stomper promise. We will return to it in just a while.

And as the story in scripture progresses, this theme of God wanting to live with his people, but not being able to do so fully is developed.

The solution to the sin problem, to the separation problem would come through something called faith.

The way this would work is through us trusting in God – through having faith. We learnt that through Abraham. But even Abraham could not see God face to face.

We see that the solution to this problem will come through a deliverer who will lead God’s people out of the land of slavery. Moses taught us that. But even Moses still could not see God face to face.

We see that God’s way of dealing with sin is through the shedding of blood, through a sacrifice that can stand in the place of the sinner.

We learn this through the temple and priestly system. Even the priests could not enter into God’s presence, and see him face to face.

We learn that the deliverance would come through a king. A king who fights for and defends his people, who rules his people with justice and mercy and through his rule his subjects prosper. We learn this through David. But even great king David, a king of faith, and a king that delivers his people, ultimately fails. And God refuses to let David build him a temple, because still he could not see God face to face.

And all throughout Israel’s history, we see this constant pattern, that God’s people wander away from him, and that he sends something to bring them back. He sends prophets, he sends judges, he sends kings. And the cycle of apostasy happens again and again.

The people are oppressed, they turn in humily to God, he sends a deliverer, and he saves them. And almost as soon as he saves them, their hearts turn back from him. And they start worshipping other Gods.

And so we learn that the problem is not just out there – the deliverance we need is not just from the evil enemies out there – but from our own hearts.

The prophets teach us that our hearts are wicked and that they produce Idols for us to worship. Our hearts are deceitful even from birth, even from the time we were conceived.

And so the solution to the problem is not just a better king, a better prophet, a better priest, but what we need is a new heart. God will never be able to live with his people, to be in our midst unless that deep heart problem is fixed.

And so God sends another promise: One day, he will fix not just our leadership – he will give us a king. Yes we will get a better David. But we will also get a new heart.

“I will put my law WITHIN them, declares the Lord, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people”.

And so the old testament closes with this tension – we know a messiah will come, God will send a better deliverer, a better king. One day his people will be delivered.

And when that day comes, they will get a new heart. A living heart. A heart that wants to worship him. Wants to love and serve him.

And so, when the new testament begins, we see Jesus being born. Here is the messiah. And he isn’t just a man, although he is fully human. He is God himself come down to earth to live with us. Finally this problem of God living among his people is resolved in the person of Jesus. He is literally God with us – living among his people.

He lives a perfect life, he dies a terrible death. He dies innocent, and when he dies he takes our sin on his shoulders, he takes our sin and pays for them, he suffers the consequences of our sin and he dies.

This better leader, the better deliverer than moses, the more faithful man than Abraham, the better king than David, the promised one, God among us, is killed by the world. And as he hangs on the cross, God’s stored up wrath against sin is poured out on Jesus, and he pays the penalty promised to Adam and Eve: You must not eat from this fruit or you will surely die.

And so when Jesus hangs on the cross, he takes that penalty and he surely dies.

But when that happens the temple curtain is torn right.

From top to bottom – God the father says, now that sin has been atoned for, now you all, all who live by faith in Jesus, can come into my presence, because your sins have been taken away.

And then at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is given to God’s people, and as the spirit takes up residence in our hearts, he gives us this new heart. This desire to live for him. He gives us the gift of faith, and everyone who believes in their heart, and confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord is saved.

And so the people of God start spreading, all over they world, they proclaim the story of Jesus. And more and more people come to faith.

But Satan, that ancient serpent isn’t happy about this.

He roars around, and he in his fury and spite wants to destroy the church. Wants to destroy God’s people. Why? Because he knows he has lost. And so he has been going around trying to devour and destroy the church.

That is what is happening, right now in the world. And that will continue until we get to our passage in Revelation 19.

And so where we meet him in our text, this is some time in the future.

Now we have to acknowledge that the chronology of what is happening here is a bit fuzzy, and it kind of depends on how you interpret it. But the point of the story here is there is a final battle coming. Now the way I read this, this is all going to happen sometime in the future. Exactly when, we don’t know.

But the point is the final battle is coming.

The final battle starts in Revelation 19, which Sally is going to read for us.

Revelation 19:11–21 (CSB)

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. 15 A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. 16 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying high overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and of their riders, and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.”

19 Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army. 20 But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.

It finishes in chapter 20, Where we read this. I am reading from Chapter 20, v1-3, and also v7-10.

Revelation 20:1–10 (CSB)

1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Here is what we don’t know. We don’t know exactly how the thousand year reign of Satan works, we don’t know exactly when this will happen. Christians, Good bible believing Christians differ and disagree on this, and much ink has been spilt over particularly whether Revelation 20, happens after Revelation 19. IT seems impossible to me for a number of reasons. The problem is that in revelation 19 we read about how the nations are brought together to fight against Jesus,

And they are utterly destroyed, and then in chapter 20, we read about how Satan is released from his prison, goes around the world and gathers together all these people who want to come and fight against Jesus. It seems unlikely that any would be left if what happened in chapter 19 happens before chapter 20.

But revelation is a book that is cyclical in nature. It talks about the same things over and over, in this kind of spiral of increasing detail. The way I think we should read this is that chapter 19 and chapter 20 tell of the same thing from different perspectives. Both depict the final battle, the one focusses on how the world gathers together against Jesus, and the other focusses on how Satan and the world is completely destroyed.

But regardless of how you read this, the point is this.

One day, there will be a great battle. There will be a day when the whole world, apart from the faithful, will come and stand against Jesus. Satan will go to the four corners of the world and gather together every source of power, every nation, every king he can and deceive them all. He will seduce them saying you don’t need to bow down to this king Jesus. He isn’t real. There is a separation between the church and the state, so rule in a secular way.

He will gather together an army of atheists to wage intellectual war against the truths of Jesus life, death and resurrection. He will deceive people by convincing them that miracles don’t happen, therefore Christianity is just a helpful fictioin, faciful idea that the weak find helpful to give meaning to their pitiful lives.

He will bring together spiritual people and deceive them, and offer then a sense of connecting with the divine by helping them commune with the spirits. He will deceive people offering connection to the dead through spiritists, through mystics, through people who will teach you how to connect with spirits, all the while having his demons wreck people’s lives.

He will bring together the pragmatists who have given up their faith because it was no longer useful to them. Who used to come to church all the time until society changed and made being a Christian unpopular. He will deceive them and tell them it is far more useful to leave the church, give up on faith, after all it gives you so much more time and money to spend on yourself.

And he will bring together the other religions, all of whom in some way shape or form requires you to work for your salvation. He will bring them together under the banner that says – look all religions are basically the same. They are all different ways to get under the God mountain. And he will say to them look at these Christians, who claim that it has all already been done in Christ. They are an abomination, we must destroy them.

And so he will deceive every nation and every person and he will draw up his armies and gather to make war against God.

And it is all so dramatic. The beast goes to the 4 corners of the world, he gathers in all the kings, and generals and army commanders, and everyone everywhere answers his summons.

And in like the great movies, the epic movies, we see in our minds eye the two armies line up to go and make war against each other.

Except it doesn’t happen.

We have become accustomed to these epic battle scenes, where all the marvel heroes line up against all the villians, or where Aragorn stands in front of the black gate of Mordor to make war against Sauron and the forces of evil, or the rebel alliance against the empire.

But that’s just not what Happens.

Jesus comes, riding as a king on his horse. He is presented in Revelation 19 as the mighty one, the powerful one, the one who in righteousness judges all those who have come to stand against him.

And there is no escape for those who are about to be judged.

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As John Piper notes: “When the world is ready for judgement, as road kill is for the vultures ,

‌ then Jesus will come in great wrath…‌

This will not be private, ‌

secret, ‌

or pleasant for unbelievers.

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He will come on the clouds of heaven, with power, and with great glory. ‌

And the judgment will be like vultures, ‌

sweeping in on the corpse of human rebellion”.

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This is a dark time for humanity. ‌

And it can seem too harsh, it can seem as if God is too harsh in allowing this to happen.

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But remember that these are people who are making war against God, against Jesus.

‌Their rejection of him as king of kings and Lord of Lords is complete.

‌

They have given themselves over to the beast, and they have been worshipping the beast.

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They have rejected God in every conceivable way, and despite having had the opportunity to repent

‌ throughout all the judgments, all the signs of Jesus’ second coming, even witnessing the destruction of the great city Babylon‌

in Revelation 17-18, ‌

they still did not turn from their evil ways to worship God.

‌

Their time is up.

‌ And God’s patience has finally run thin.

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In chapter 20, this is the full account of the battle.

Revelation 20:9–10 (ESV)

9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

That’s it. 2 verses.

It is over in a flash.

‌

The whole fight lasted but a moment. ‌

So quick was the defeat of the beast, the anti-christ and all that followed him, ‌It simply gives us the results.‌

The beast is captured. The false prophet has been captured. The unholy trinity that Satan has been set up for himself has been destroyed, and both the beast and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire.

‌ Alive.

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The beast and the false prophet will suffer for the wickedness they inflicted on the earth. They will be tormented for eternity. ‌

And the entirety of humanity who stood against Jesus is slain with a word.‌

And the birds eat their flesh.‌

That is the power of Christ.‌

That is the king we worship.

May we shiver in our boots when we belittle Jesus. May we be struck down in awe and fear of his power. May we take this opportunity to turn again, or perhaps even the first time, from our hatred, our distain, our disrespect of who Jesus is.

May we never again treat him as if he doesn’t matter.

Don’t you see, when we say Jesus is Lord of Lords, we should actually mean it.

Because as much as he was the one who gave the sermon on the mount, blessed are the peacemakers, just as much is he this warrior king who will one day defeat finally Satan and all who stood against him.

Please, I beg you, don’t take your faith lightly.

Because this is the future. This is what will happen as certainly as I stand here today.

Chapter 20 finishes like this. So Satan has been thrown into the fire.

This then is what happens.

Revelation 20:11–15 (CSB)

11 Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. 13 Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. 14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

‌Make sure your name is in the book of life.

Trust in the king.

He is coming.

Come Lord Jesus

Amen