Sunday, May 20th, 2018 - AM - Christ Returns! Hallelujah, Amen!

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Rejoicing Through Revelation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 58:46
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· 154 viewsThe coming of Christ is the blessed hope of believers!
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Introduction
Introduction
Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations,
As when he fought in the day of battle.
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
Which is before Jerusalem on the east,
And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west,
And there shall be a very great valley;
And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north,
And half of it toward the south.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Christ’s return is the center of our hope
Quote: The Long Journey Home, by Os Guinness. If we are not careful, our hope for the Lord’s return can be dulled by diversion. Guinness comments:
Modern society itself is one grand diversion—the Republic of Entertainment. With our shops, shows, sports, games, tourism, recreation, cosmetics, plastic surgery, virtual reality, and the endless glorification of health and youth, our culture is a vast conspiracy to make us forget our transience and mortality. We turn away. We tune out. Alibis for reality-escape artists are on every hand. “Modern man is drinking and drugging himself out of awareness,” psychologist Ernest Becker wrote, “or he spends his time shopping, which is the same thing.”7 [J. Scott Duvall, Revelation, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2014), 260–261.]
Main Thought:
Jesus, the Captain of Our Salvation, is coming back in power and glory to conquer His enemies!
Sub-Introduction:
Briefly review the earlier part of Chapter 19.
I. Heaven Opened Once for All (Rev. 19:11-16)
I. Heaven Opened Once for All (Rev. 19:11-16)
A. Our Captain’s Coming (Rev. 19:11-14)
A. Our Captain’s Coming (Rev. 19:11-14)
Note - two interjections ("Behold" in v. 11, "Come" in v. 17)
1. He Comes to Contend Righteously (Rev. 19:11)
1. He Comes to Contend Righteously (Rev. 19:11)
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
White horse = Triumph; called "Faithful & True;" judges & makes war in righteousness
2. He Comes Crowned in Majesty (Rev. 19:12-13)
2. He Comes Crowned in Majesty (Rev. 19:12-13)
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Eyes - "AS a flame of fire" = piercing and scrupulously investigative judgment
Head - Crowns (diadems) - Majesty / True Sovereign
Names - "Faithful and True" - reliable / trustworthy (see Laodicea Rev. 3:14, and Rev. 22:6); Written (like Scripture, Ps. 138:2; 119:89) but known only to Him (see also Is. 62:2; Rev. 3:12; Lk. 10:22); "The Word of God" - Jn. 1:1-3; 1Tim. 3:16; Creator, now Judge; "King of kings and Lord of lords" - tells of His supremacy (1Tim. 6:15)
Vesture - "cast about" / wrapped with a garment baptized in blood
βεβαμμένον perf. pass. part. βάπτω (G970) to dip. Perf. indicates a past completed action w. a continuing state or results. The blood staining the garment of the conquering Messiah is not His own, but the blood of the enemy shed in conflict (Mounce; Isa. 63:1-6). [Cleon L. Rogers Jr. and Cleon L. Rogers III, The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament, Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), paragraph 44655. https://accordance.bible/link/read/GNT_Key#44655]
Who is this that cometh from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah?
This that is glorious in his apparel,
Travelling in the greatness of his strength?
I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.
Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,
And thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
I have trodden the winepress alone;
And of the people there was none with me:
For I will tread them in mine anger,
And trample them in my fury;
And their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
And I will stain all my raiment.
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart,
And the year of my redeemed is come.
And I looked, and there was none to help;
And I wondered that there was none to uphold:
Therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me;
And my fury, it upheld me.
And I will tread down the people in mine anger,
And make them drunk in my fury,
And I will bring down their strength to the earth.
In Rev. 5:6 blood = redemption, but now pictures judgment
3. He Comes with Heaven’s Company (Rev. 19:14)
3. He Comes with Heaven’s Company (Rev. 19:14)
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Armies - having no weapons
Clothing - similar as the Bride (see Rev. 19:8); Bride = clean & bright; Armies = white & clean
In a quick summary of this periballw [see above, here the word is from ἐνδύω] verb in Revelation, it is significant that clothing identifies the character of the wearer. For instance, saints will be clothed in white (Rev. 3:5, 18; 4:4; 7:9, 13); an angel in a cloud (10:1); two witnesses in sackcloth (11:3); the woman in the sun (12:1); the Harlot in purple and scarlet (17:7); Babylon in fine linen, purple and scarlet (18:16); and the Bride in fine linen, clean and white (19:8). [Thomas M. Strouse, To the Seven Churches: A Commentary on the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, Selected Works of Dr. Thomas M. Strouse (Bible Baptist Theological Press, 40 Country Squire Rd., Cromwell, CT 06461, 2013).]
B. Our Captain’s Campaign (Rev. 19:15-16)
B. Our Captain’s Campaign (Rev. 19:15-16)
1. His Enemies Are Subdued (Rev. 19:15)
1. His Enemies Are Subdued (Rev. 19:15)
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Sharp sword - Long Thracian Sword
Church in Pergamos - Satan's Seat (Throne of the Beast), Doctrine of Balaam (False Prophet's Deception & the World's Reception of Idolatry to the Beast), Doctrine of Nicolaitans (Kings of the earth leading rebellion against God)
Where Antipas the Faithful was martyred
Iron Rod - unyielding & absolute - rod = chastisement, correction, goading, etc. (See Ps. 2:9-11; Is. 11:4).
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron;
Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,
And reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:
And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Thyatira (Jezebel - slaying God's prophets) - Rev. 2:27
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Overcomer receives power over the nations & the Morning Star
Treading the Winepress - Refer to Is. 63:1-6; see Rev. 14:19-20
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
2. He Reigns Supreme (Rev. 19:16)
2. He Reigns Supreme (Rev. 19:16)
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Vesture & Thigh - part of the garment that covers the thigh; most conspicuous when riding a horse
See also:
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Application:
Our blessed hope is the return of Christ. We spend extraordinary amounts of energy teaching about faith and love, and rightly so, but what about hope? Christians often have a hard time explaining hope and knowing where exactly to place their hope. Whereas love is oriented toward the present, hope points to the future. The ultimate resting place for our hope is Christ himself and his promise to return (“the blessed hope” in Titus 2:13). The prayer of hope is “Come, Lord Jesus.” Our hope is anchored in the assurance that God will not abandon his people but will return for them. Jesus will return to resurrect and reward his people, judge the unrighteous, destroy evil, and transform creation. [Duvall, 260.]
Transition: John has shown us how the heaven opened so Jesus & His armies could return to the earth in final judgment, now, let's take a look at something John saw in the sun:
II. An Angel Standing in the Sun, Calling God’s Clean-up Crew (Rev. 19:17-18)
II. An Angel Standing in the Sun, Calling God’s Clean-up Crew (Rev. 19:17-18)
A. The Gathering-Call (Rev. 19:17)
A. The Gathering-Call (Rev. 19:17)
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Angel "standing in the sun"
Fowls - used only three times - Rev. 18:2 (Babylon, the cage of every unclean fowl), here (Rev. 19:17), and Rev. 19:21
Name of the feast - "the supper of the great God"
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
B. The Goal - Consume the Enemies’ Carcass’ (Rev. 19:18)
B. The Goal - Consume the Enemies’ Carcass’ (Rev. 19:18)
That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and t