Apocalyptic Victory

One of the most epic battles is probably when the small Spartan army held off the vast Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. 7000 men, some of whom were the famed Spartan warriors faced down over 100,000 Persian warriors and the mighty Emperor Xerxes.

They held their own for three days before they were overwhelmed by the numbers.

They lost that battle, but their courage has become legendary, and Greece managed to repel the Persians a year later, ending Xerxes invasion.

Great battles throughout history and in our fantasy stories or movies are climactic moments. They are where the game changes: the good guys win, the bad guys are defeated. Even if it’s a tragedy, the good guys till get glory and honour. Eventually the country is saved, the pretender king is deposed. Evil attacks but good triumphs in the end.

Our story today is just like that. The apostle John writes about a massive battle. It looks like evil might just have the upper hand, but it turns out that they never had a chance.

This kind of story is typical of Revelation: there is vivid imagery used to paint powerful pictures of wild wonders and crazy catastrophes. It is meant to contort your mind as you try to conceive an understanding of the how these things work. Metaphors are mixed, and imagery overlaps.

Apocalyptic Literature

Most of us aren’t familiar with the type of genre that Revelation is written with. We don’t exactly have a modern equivalent. Its called “Apocalyptic literature”, and it was quite common back in the day. You can even find it in other books of the Bible like Daniel and Ezekiel. But what do we do with it? How do we understand it?

I’ve been wracking my brains for a way to illustrate what apocalyptic literature does. Its a kind of propaganda. It’s metaphor mixed with allegory, mixed with fantasy. It kinda like reading George Orwell’s 1948; you’re not meant to say “this is cool science fiction story,” you’re meant to say “I hope the the wrong people don’t get their hands on too much power.”

Political Cartoon

One of the closest things I could think of to explain Revelation is the political cartoon, you know where you open the paper and there is some funny picture about the political happenings of the week? When you look at a political cartoon, you’re not meant to see a representation of an actual event: it’s a caricature, a parody, amplified imagery.

The illustration will take real life events and create an artistic message with a message built in. The artist takes attributes like body features or character traits and stretches them out of proportion to make a point.

When we get to Revelation, it’s a similar story: there are a bunch of caricatures and figurative pictures mashed together. For the most part, if you looked at the news headlines in John’s time, the culture and the political situation of the day when this was written, it all makes perfect sense.

Honing In

We’re honing in today on a part later in Revelation, it’s part of the climactic and triumphant end to the book. John has been laying out strange visions of angels and beasts. He keeps telling the same story over and over, but each time it is from a different angle. Our passage today in Revelation 19 is one of those cycles that is building up to the beautiful end to the book. But before we get to the beautiful end, there is destruction. There is war. There is a battle.

Is it a real battle? Is this something that will literally take place? I’m not so sure. I think that God is trying to paint a picture of what it will be like, rather that an actual account of events. Like our political cartoon, the events are represented, not literal.

This battle is very curious. In many ways it reminds us of the climactic battles of a good action movie, but there are some startling differences.

First we’ll investigate the crazy description of the Wonderful Warlord, second we’ll have a look at the Assembled Army, thirdly hear about the Battle Preparations before fourthly checking out the Brief Battle itself.

Look with me in the Bible to see what is going on.

1. The Wonderful Warlord

v11-13, 15-16

Describing The Warlord

From verse 11 starts a vision; John the Apostle peers into heaven. He sees a fantastic white horse with a noble rider. A Wonderful Warlord. That rider turns out to be Jesus. lets look at the description;

Revelation 19:11–13 ESV

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

Wow! Here is this picture of King Jesus, riding out to make war and to judge. How do we know it’s Jesus? Apart from the fact that this description could fit no other, there is an explicit reference to Jesus being called Faithful and True in Revelation 3 (v17), and he is called the Word of God, which is the same language that John used in the Gospel of John.

Now that we are certain about who this is, how is he described?

He is sitting on a regal victory horse (despite the fact he hasn’t won the battle yet!). His eyes are blazing fire, no one can stand his gaze!

He is wearing a bunch of crowns. He is a mighty king. Throughout Revelation there are descriptions of usurpers who wear crowns, 7, 10, etc, but here, Jesus has multiple crowns, a bunch of diadems. He is the rightful ruler, who has more than enough crowns. It’s difficult to tell how many there are!

He has a secret name that only he knows. It’s like a password, it is private, and no one else knows it. If a password is leaked, then someone else, like a hacker, can take control of something, whether it be your bank account, or social media account, or phone!

Now there is no secret password, that unlocks control of Jesus, but the idea here is that no-one can get one-up on Jesus. No one can control him or manipulate him, they can’t even know his secret name.

So we have Jesus, the Word of God, seated on a white horse, with blazing eyes, a bunch of crowns on His head and a robe splattered with the blood of His enemies.

Further Description

But wait! There’s more!

If we keep looking from verse 15 we see more about Jesus;

Revelation 19:15–16 ESV

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Jesus sword in his mouth is a recurring theme in Revelation. It’s because he doesn’t swing a physical sword, but as the Word of God, his power comes through speaking.

God spoke the world into existence. His Words shaped the world, and he did it through Jesus. Jesus will judge the living and the dead, and pronounce their everlasting judgement. He will defend Justice or meter it out, and all he has to do is speak.

Not only does he have a sword, but a rod of iron as well. He dual wields! Like a shepherd who protects and subdues the enemies of the flock, Jesus will rule with an iron rod.

Catch Breath

Can you keep up with this? There is so much packed into this description!!

As Dr. Voddie Baucham would say: this is no "sissified, needy, Jesus”. He’s already in victory stance, even as the battle looms. He is given royal titles that are usually given after you have won the battle. The enemies haven’t arrived yet, but he’s already got blood on his robe.

Wrath of God

King Jesus stands prepared to tread the winepress of God’s fury. He’s ready to crush out God’s wrath. Like grapes that must mature and grow to their fullness, God’s wrath has been waiting, maturing on the vine.

God the Almighty has been holding back. He has been patient. He has been playing out his grand plan on the world stage. He has endured the insults, the dishonor, the blasphemy of the world. The nations, the world in general, has collectively opposed God.

He has waited long enough. He has begun the harvest. God is ready to turn the grapes into wine; it must be tread in the wine press. The grapes must be crushed, tread underfoot. Jesus is the one who is going to unleash the wrath of God!

He is ready, and he bears His royal titles. If ever you wanted justification for a tattoo, this is it: Jesus has one! “on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” It’s also written on his bloody robe. King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Sometimes, we can in our minds miniaturize Jesus. Because as Christians we approach Jesus through God’s love and mercy, we forget just how terrifying He really is! I’m glad he’s on our side, because I would not want to face King Jesus in a a show down! Friends, this is our Jesus. Yes, he was humbled in the incarnation, in his earthly ministry, born as a baby, living out the average life of a chippy in the Palestinian back blocks. He had a bit of a following of his religious teachings in his later years, but in the scheme of things he wasn’t a big deal from an earthly perspective. He had a shameful death.

But the thing is, in his whole earthly ministry, Jesus was being humble, he took off his glory so that he could walk among us. But folks, the day is coming where he isn’t gonna hide his glory anymore. It’s gonna be plain for the world to see! And that’s what our passage is telling us about; the day when Jesus shows the cosmos what he is really like.

Jesus stands ready. That Wonderful Warlord, perched on a white horse. Surely this picture must inspire terror and awe at once. This king is magnificent!

He’s not alone.

2. The Assembled Army

v14

Just there, with Jesus is a few other people. I jumped over it before, but if you go back to verse 14, have a look:

Revelation 19:14 ESV

And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

White Robes

So while Jesus is there is all his splendor, he is accompanied by the Armies of Heaven!! A vast host who are there in His wake, on white horses and sweet robes. Interestingly, no one here is dressed in battle gear, even though the enemy is about to turn up. They’re all just rocking their pure robes. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it i would turn up to battle in a white suit, I’d be looking for some armor, at least a breast plate and a helmet or something. But no: fine linen.

If you skip back to Rev 7, you find out why the robes are so white;

Revelation 7:9–14 ESV

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

You see? Their robes are white because they washed them in the blood of the Lamb. They washed their robes in Jesus’ blood and they became pure and white.

Are you catching that? Robes, dipped in blood, become white.

The blood of Jesus, the lamb, cleanses. It cleans, it purifies. The blood of Jesus washes away impurity. Who’s impurity? Yours and mine!

We are part of that great multitude who will stand before the throne of God. You and I bring our filthy, rotten dirty rags to Jesus and he cleanses them in his blood.

You and I get to stand in white robes in God’s presence because Jesus blood makes us clean.

Jesus takes away our disgrace. He removes our shame. He cleanses us from sin so that we might stand in the Throne room of God!

But where does his blood come from? Jesus isn’t standing there with a needle in his arm donating it milliliter by milliliter! No!

The Lamb was slain!

This blood is the blood of sacrifice!

This is the lifeblood of Christ, poured out for you! Poured out to make you clean! It gushes from his mortal wounds to wash away your sins in the flood of His grace!

Put off your old filthy self and clothe yourself in Christ. Take the pure white robes, bathed in the Blood, mount your white horse and stand with Jesus against the forces of the world.

Ready with Jesus

You and I, the white-robed people of God, stand with Jesus in the climactic battle.

Revelation 19:14 ESV

And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

We turn up with Jesus to face down the enemy, not armed to the teeth but standing as an Assembled Army behind our Wonderful Warlord; our King and God.

DO you realize this is your position? DO you realize this is who you are when you become a Christian! You are in place of security! You stand with the people of God in security! You don’t need to worry about protecting yourself , because King Jesus has got your back! You just gotta put on that robe and turn up!

You get those sweet robes, and you get an awesome horse to ride into battle with King Jesus. You!

What do you have to fear with Jesus at the head of your company? Jesus leads your battle charge! You can be so confident that all you wear is a robe, you don’t even need armor because Jesus has got you!

You can lift your voice with the confidence of David:

Psalm 27:3 ESV

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

3. The Battle Preparations

v17-19

While we stand confident with our Wonderful Warlord, the battle preparations are under way.

Carrion Birds

John looks up and sees an angel that is standing in the sun. I don’t know why he is standing there, but he sends out a dinner invitation while the enemies gather. Look from verse 17:

Revelation 19:17–19 ESV

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.

So the angel is inviting carrion birds to get ready to eat. It seems a bit pre-emptive,but he’s calling the vultures, eagles, hawks etc to get ready to pig out. The battle hasn’t even started, but the angel is pretty certain that the opposing forces are going to need eating, because they will be dead. It’s a bit of a reversal of the usual order - humans eat birds, not the other way round!

This is a straight callback to Ezekiel 39 where there is a very similar call put out to the birds and the beasts with the promise:

Ezekiel 39:19 ESV

And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you.

It’s not a pretty picture, but in ancient battles, as well as modern, you have to deal with the dead bodies. If you’ve got too many then the carrion birds are going to get to them before you can bury them or burn them. The picture here is that there are going to be so many of the bad guys dead, that the carrion birds are going to have a field day. Bring your mates! There’s gonna be plenty to go round!

Enemy Army

While this is going on, the enemy is showing up. They’re getting ready, gathering against Jesus and his army.

Revelation 19:19 ESV

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.

Now you have to go back and read earlier chapters to get a better idea of who the mysterious beast is, but suffice to say that this beast and the kings are the enemies of God. They are sponsored by Satan, and ready to foolishly take on God.

So Jesus and His white Army are set up on one side, and the beast and his earthly army are gathered on this side.

4. The Brief Battle

v21

Non-event

Ok. SO the stage it set.

We have the Wonderful Warlord, with his Assembled Army in white. The Battle Preparations have been made.

We’re ready to go!

and....

All done.

It’s finished.

It was just ready to start, and the battle is won. It’s essentially a non-event. Have a look from v20:

Revelation 19:20–21 ESV

And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

The armies assembled, prepared to fight, but they were defeated. There essentially was no battle. It was all over before you could blink.

It’s actually a little anti-climactic. Where’s the stirring tales of valiant heroes? Where’s the tense moment, where it seems like the bad guys just might win? Where’s the moment when the main character is mortally wounded while winning the battle?

Well....

Jesus Already Won

It already happened. It happened on a cross. It happened in Jerusalem at the hand of Roman soldiers 2000 years ago.

The enemies of God didn’t know it then, but Jesus won the war that day. That was the day he overthrew Satan, Sin and Death. That was the day that our Wonderful Warlord clothed his White Army.

Jesus received His mortal wound at the hand of mere men, in the plan and foreknowledge of God, so that he would stand triumphant as King of Angels and Men.

As Jesus hung there, slain, bleeding on a cross. Broken, beaten and bruised he was humble. Humble to death. He said “It is finished!”

In those moments he won his victory so that you and I might be free from the tyranny of the dark overlords.

We throw off the shackles of sin and spit in the face of death!

We follow in Christ’s train as we march onto the battlefield as the triumphant army who haven’t blooded any blade. We ride into victory behind our king Jesus who Judges and Makes War.

Jesus, his robe preemptively dripping with the blood of his enemies, captures the leaders and throws them into a lake of fire. He throws them into torment and punishment. A just punishment for standing against the true and rightful King.

The Army Overthrown

The leaders are dealt with. Who's next? Everyone else who stands opposed to God on that battlefield.

It’s a bloodbath. There is destruction. God’s wrath is poured out.

The rest were slain, how? by the Sword of Jesus mouth. HE cut down that multitude with his sword and the birds gorged themselves on the flesh of the slain armies. The birds who feast on death are satisfied

They suffered an utter defeat. They stood no chance. They became bird food for their insolence and rebellion. They thought they could take on Jesus? Hah!

It’s hard to put these events into time and space. When will it happen? Where will it happen? I’m not convinced this is meant to be understood to be an actually literal scene; instead, it is is a picture of what Jesus victory is like. It’s a figurative representation of his victory.

Jesus’ enemies have no chance. Despite the way it looks sometimes there is no way that Jesus and the White Army can be overthrown. It’s a done deal. Jesus wins the War, and there is no alternative.

What next?

Given what we’ve been talking about, what next for us? How do you and I respond in time and space? What does this apocalyptic victory mean for us?

I have three suggestions for you as we live in light of Jesus present and future victory:

1. Be an Ambassador of the Kingdom (2 Co 5:20)

Let people know that Jesus reigns and that every knee will bow, willingly or otherwise.

2. Put to death what is earthly in you (Col 3:5)

If you have been washed in Jesus blood and belong to him, get rid of anything in your life that conflicts with God’s Kingdom. Weed out sin, cut out temptation, put to death anything that gets between you and Jesus your Wonderful Warlord.

3. Be ready for Jesus’ Victory Parade (Mar 13:33, Mat 24)

Jesus is coming back in Victory. First time he came in meekness, next time he comes with terrifying glory. Be ready for his return when we will be lifted up to join his victory parade.

Emperors in the ancient Roman times would go out to war, and when the returned they would come back in procession, with a big parade.

Jesus is coming back, and we will join his parade.

Jesus is victorious. And we are swept up in that victory. We have no need of fear. We can hold our head high and wade into the fray, knowing that Jesus has won the war.

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