King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords

Fifteen years ago Priscilla and I attended the graduation of our niece from college - that great bastion of academia — the West Virginia University !

We met in a wonderful auditorium and were regaled by speaker after speaker with humanist, anti-God, occasionally blasphemous speeches.

So I am sitting fuming. And Priscilla was afraid that I would do something unseemly - shout lier or something like that.

So after the diplomas were awarded, and the ceremony was about to end, the WVU choir came on stage. Upon the dismissal, this great choir began to sing.

And as I am standing there glowering, suddenly I began to melt, a smile came to my face, joy flooded my heart, I began to pump the air.

Why? Because of what the choir sang. What did they sing? If they were following the speakers of the evening, they should have sung Frank Sinatra’s “I did it my way”. But NO. What did they sing? Handel’s Messiah !!

I know that they were trying to be cute — Hallelujah we graduated...

But the words they were clearly, powerfully, wonderfully singing were -

|: For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! :|

Where did these lyrics come from? Our Scripture this morning -

King James Version Chapter 19

6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

But that is not all — From Revelation 11:15

,, )

Story of David the Bully.

I will never forget David climbing down out of that tree, with tears streaming down his face - and the three of us watching with that invigorating sense of revenge!

Of course, now I know that I was sinning. Not only by what I did, but especially the motive of selfish revenge that drove us on.

As adults, we have out grown this, haven’t we? Although sometimes I think that Christians view this book of Revelation as an adult version of “David up the tree”. “At last we get revenge on our enemies!”

Oh, it is true, this book is a book of judgment on sin, evil, wickedness; and that in a serious manner.

The kingdom of this world Is become the kingdom of our Lord, And of His Christ, and of His Christ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, For ever and ever, forever and ever,

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. |: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! :|

The kingdom of this world Is become the kingdom of our Lord, And of His Christ, and of His Christ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, For ever and ever, forever and ever,

The kingdom of this world Is become the kingdom of our Lord, And of His Christ, and of His Christ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, For ever and ever, forever and ever,

From ; |: King of kings, and Lord of lords, :|

KJV (1) The Revelation [unveiling] of Jesus Christ …

The kingdom of this world Is become the kingdom of our Lord, And of His Christ, and of His Christ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, For ever and ever, forever and ever,

What I took away from this at first my thought was about Balaam and his donkey. When Balaam would not prophesy, God spoke through his donkey (note I did not use the KJV). And when the PROFESSORS of WVU would not profess the truth, God spoke through the WVU choir! (I am not comparing the WVU choir with donkeys....)

And He shall reign forever and ever, |: King of kings! and Lord of lords! :| And He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings! and Lord of lords! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

What I took away from this at first my thought was about Balaam and his donkey. When Balaam would not prophesy, God spoke through his donkey (note I did not use the KJV). And when the PROFESSORS of WVU would not profess the truth, God spoke through the WVU choir! (I am not comparing the WVU choir with donkeys....)

What I took away from this at first my thought was about Balaam and his donkey. When Balaam would not prophesy, God spoke through his donkey (note I did not use the KJV). And when the PROFESSORS of WVU would not profess the true, God spoke through the WVU choir! (I am not comparing the WVU choir with donkeys....)

And the more I thought about my experience, the real lesson was that - God has the last word.

And then building on God has the last word is that God always wins in the end. (I could have entitled this sermon “Are you tired of winning???”)

What do we learn about this? God has the last word. God always wins. And that is what our Scripture teaches us today.

Why does God win in the end? Well because He is God.

But our scripture today from answers the question why God wins and how God wins.

And to get an orientation to that answer, lets step back a bit and ask, what is this book all about?

But what is this book all about? Look at verse one –

Look at the first verse of Revelation –

KJV (1) The Revelation [unveiling] of Jesus Christ …This book is all about Jesus Christ. Christ as the Savior and Lord. The Law and the Gospel.

I want to take you this morning into this great book. And to show you its central purpose - not to predict time and place - but to teach spiritual lessons

We will move from a more carnal sense of the text to a spiritual grasp of the great truth presented here.

In this last half of chapter 19, we have a marvelous sketch of a mighty conflict, in which the most high God, in the Person of his Son, goes forth to war and victory.

Now, it might seem strange that God is going to war. We probably have reason to believe that God could, if He pleased, terminate in a moment all that is opposed to His infinitely holy nature. No war needed!!!

But He does not see fit to do this. We do not know why. It may be that in and by the conflict lessons are to be taught which otherwise could not be learned.

Any way, while this strife lasts, it is the Lord’s controversy, which will be brought to a head in this battle described here - “the battle of the great day of God Almighty”.

It is concerning this conflict, but more importantly, the Leader in the conflict that the Apostle is teaching us this morning, which has been “revealed” in this Revelation.

- I -

Who Is This Leader

The Apostle sees heaven open. What or Who does he see?

Obviously he is seeing the risen Jesus Christ, even though neither His personal name (Jesus) nor official name (Christ) is used.

Look at how He is identified, described.

1. By Names.

Names in the Scripture some time are used to reveal to us the character of the person. We have a sense of this today – Story of RC Sproul and the engagement ring.

a. A name which no one knows.

(NKJV) “...He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.”

There are aspects of Christ’s nature which are known to us.

But there are other aspects which to us are unknown.

"..no one knows the Son except the Father.”

All this has to do with Christ’s meritorious Kingship. He is God.

Now this is a problem for atheists, agnostics, etc. Can’t put God in a box.

But this reassures us Christians. Our God is always an amazing Person to us! The souls in the book of Revelation, as they experience God revealing him more and more spontaneous break out in amazed praise.

You ain’t seen nothing yet! () The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

b. A name we do know.

(NKJV) “... His name is called The Word of God.”

Think of . He is the Word Incarnate (become flesh).

c. A title.

(NKJV) “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Robe & Thigh? Obvious. Like a name on a team jersey.

– everyone knows there is a God.

ESV

(9) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

(10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

(11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2. By His Attributes.

The Lord is described by His attributes.

(NKJV) “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”

a. Faithful.

Did you think he wasn’t coming? Did you think all the promises and threatenings of the Scripture were false?

b. True.

alethinos, al-ay-thee-nos'; truthful:--true.

Not just true in the sense of facts, but Christ is truth itself, reality itself.

Do you want to know what the true, authentic life is? Not that of the world, but only that Jesus Christ. He is reality, He is True.

c. Righteous.

(NKJV) “… and in righteousness He judges ….”

(NIV) “His eyes are like blazing fire...”

Just in judgment - even those in hell agree with His verdict!

He is omniscient - all knowing. No sin, no sinner can escape His knowledge.

(NKJV) “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

(NKJV) “… and in righteousness He… makes war…”

Just in war

Who has the right to start a war? Perplexing question.

His is the righteous cause. He justifiably goes to war against governments, peoples, cultures, value systems,...

We cannot be challenged “Who gave you the right to...?”

3. By His Appearance.

a. Rides a white horse. (verse 11)

We know the good guys wear the white hats and ride the white horse.

The horse is preeminently the animal for battle, the war steed, irrepressible in his onslaught, undaunted in courage.

The Lord therefore comes for war. He does not come on the colt of an ass.

And the white of the horse indicates He comes not only to fight, but to gain victory.

b. Many crowns on His head. (verse 12a)

On his head He wars many diadems, royal crowns, symbolic of victories won in the past. This is not the first time that He has won the battle. Spiritually He already has overcome sin, the devil, and his whole dominion. And therefore, many crowns that formerly belonged to the enemy He has already placed on His own head. The Battle of Armageddon is only the grand climax of the holy war this captain has fought throughout the ages.

c. Robe is dipped, sprinkled in blood. (verse 13a)

Whose blood is it? Is it Christ’s blood of the atonement? Probably not..

It symbolically indicates that the Man from Edom, with sprinkled garments as from Bozrah (), has judged many an enemy before, all through the history of the world, while now the final scene has come, in which He shall tread the winepress of the wrath of God for the last time. ()

- II -

How Does The Leader Fight The War

1. By The Sword.

(NKJV) “Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. ...”

Did you notice anything odd?

You would think that if you wanted a General to fight a battle that He would have a sword in his hand, not coming out of his mouth!

Some have tried to picture this literally! But pictures showing Christ with a sword coming out of His mouth are bizarre. Christ does not have a sword coming out of His mouth.

What does the sword out of the mouth mean?

“...out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, ...”

We know that the writer of Hebrews () says that “the word of God is ... sharper than any two-edged sword”.

Here is portrayed the conquering power of the Gospel and the triumph of Christianity. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, by preaching and teaching, and testimony conquers the world for Christ.

His Word is His sword. For it is a word of power. By it the enemies are defeated. By it they are judged. By it their punishment is executed to the full. And therefore, He is come as He was pictured long ago in , for the purpose of ruling the nations with a rod of iron and to tread the winepress of God all alone.

That is why the writer makes such a point that the sword was in the rider’s mouth - it is the Word of God.

2. By The Armies Of Heaven.

(NKJV) “And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”

Armies = Church militant, Church triumphant, and holy angels.

But did you notice something strange here too?

Suppose you were a General and you were about to attack the enemy. And if you asked your second in command, what kind of weapons your army had - clean, white, fine linen! Not a well-equipped army!

Christ’s army had something much better and more effective. They were clothed in fine linen, white and clean, which, we are told (verse 8) is the righteousness of the saints.

This righteousness is more effective in the battle of the Lord than all the swords in the world.

3. By Stern And Terrible Judgments.

(NKJV) “...He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

God’s judgment comes in different ways and at different times.

But when it comes in its final form, it will be terrible.

- III -

What Lessons Does the Lord Teach Us About His Conflict?

1. Hope in that which has been revealed.

As we trudge through this life facing trials and problems as Christians, Christ has revealed to us that we are not alone. There Is a great battle going on. And the Lord Himself is leading armies of God.

And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?"

So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

And Elisha prayed, and said, "LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

2. Hope in the Word of God.

What can we possibly use to fight the world?

The Word of God.

When the Apostle Paul talks about the Armor of God, he says, “and take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;”

3. The terrible strife between good and evil.

Christians must learn that Christ came not only to pardon sin, but also to destroy it.

Not just a struggle between righteousness and sin, but your righteousness and your sin! It becomes personal.

That should be our attitude.

“Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

4. Our duty as members of His army.

God could have done this all by Himself. But He chooses to fight this battle by enlisting you into His army.

If you see the book of Revelation only as speaking of some time in the future when God is going to roll through the world ripping people limb from limb, you miss the fundamental idea.

This is fundamentally a Spiritual battle.

In the Book of 2 Chronicles (chapter 20), we have the story of Jehoshaphat and his war against Ammon and Moab.

Do you know how he sent his army forth? With a choir in front singing

KJV (21) And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

The battle is fundamentally Spiritual in nature.

- Conclusion -

There dear friends is Christ revealed. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords.

The picture that John gives us here is an incredible one. But how do we fit into that picture?

Years ago at work, someone brought in a Historical calendar with a picture of the Mexican bandit, Poncho Vella and his gang riding through the countryside on horses. I cut out the faces of my team and pasted them on the picture. There was Randy, Mark, Neal, Barry, my boss… The team was riding …

When you look at this picture in beyond Christ on His white horse, what do you see?

Do you see your face there?

Have you put on your white linen of holiness? Have you mounted your white horse of the Gospel? Are you following Christ as He is revealed by His Word?

When the Apostle Paul was about to die, he said to young Timothy,

“I have fought the good fight...”

May we be able to say the same. Most cannot.