Untitled Sermon (4)

The Baby in the Manger is King of Kings and Lord of Lords

Merry Christmas, and it is over. We spent a lot of time over the last 3 weeks discussing the importance of the Advent of our Lord. We talked about the importance today of the nativity narrative. We talked about the purpose of the baby in the manger. We learned from those studies that we can know that God is faithful to do what He says He will do so it makes it possible for us to live by faith on a day to day basis. We saw that our Savior’s perfection is accounted to all who believe as their own righteousness before God. We saw that Jesus came for all peoples, no matter the demographic; He saves people from all groups leading us to the knowledge that we are to proclaim the gospel to all people. We learned that we will have tribulations just like the Wise Men and the infant Jesus but that He has overcome those trials and He is working on our behalf. We learned of course that He came to save His people; to free them from the bondage of sin and death. He came to be our supreme treasure, Christ is enough. He is our truest joy and our only hope. If we lost all in this world but had Christ then we have everything. And finally we learned that He came to reveal the hearts of man. You cannot remain neutral concerning Christ. He is either your Lord or you are an enemy of God. It is that simple.

In all of the studies over the last couple of weeks we have seen the wonder of the Savior. How He humbled Himself taking on the form of a man and being a servant unto death. We have seen the proclamation and talked about the fulfillment of the angel’s proclamation to Mary that He came to save His people from their sin. But there are some things that we left out as it relates to this baby born in a manger. Today I am going to preach from a book that I seldom preach from, mostly because I have trouble understanding it and don’t want to confuse you with what I don’t know. We will be looking at four things about this baby born in a manger that is not told in His nativity, or in the narrative of His life in the Gospels. We will be in looking at the God who reveals Himself but remains unknowable in all His ways, we will be looking at the conquering King, the righteous Judge and the Captain of the armies of God. Let’s pray then we will look into God’s written word.

Before we get started I just want you to know that this is not going to be a “when this happens then this happens” sermon out of Revelation. If you look in your Bibles at the title of this book is not “The Revelation of When Jesus Christ Returns” However it is titled “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”. So that is how we will handle this passage; seeking to reveal Jesus Christ. 11 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. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS[1]

Let’s get this out of the way to begin with. The rider on the white horse coming out of heaven leading an army is none other than Jesus Christ. We know this because in verse 13 we see that He is called the “Word of God”. In John’s gospel we see this title given to Jesus. , 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not £comprehend it…14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. I am not going to spend any more time on this, just understand that this passage is talking about Jesus Christ; the Word of God made flesh.

I know that I usually start at the beginning and work my way through the text but today I think I want to start in the middle of verse 12, the second sentence there: “He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.” That would appear to be an obscure statement considering that we just read quite few things about Him and even established that it is Jesus. But to know what is meant by this we have to recall what a person’s or being’s or place’s name meant in the ancient Jewish sense. Often God changed people’s names to reflect His purpose for them like Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel. Bethlehem means “house of bread” (very suiting for the birthplace of the Bread of Life”. But when Scripture talks about a person’s name it is speaking concerning his character, his entirety, everything about him. So when it is said that “He had a name written that no one knew except Himself” it is reflecting the unknowable nature of Jesus Christ. “Wait a minute preacher, I know Jesus! He is my Savior, I read my Bible everyday and He is revealed in the Word of God. I know Him!” I will not doubt that you can know everything that has been revealed about our Lord Jesus Christ. But He is God. You may know everything about his birth that is written; you may have every move that is recorded in Scripture memorized. You may understand the atonement and His being our propitiation. You may know every word that He spoke; you could even have it committed to memory. You may even understand the homeostatic union (fully God and fully man, I doubt you fully understand it but I suppose you could). But still you would only know what He has revealed about Himself. You could study Jesus Christ for all eternity and still you would not know Him, you would not know all of His glory, all of His attributes, or all of His thoughts. So though you can know Him as Redeemer, as Savior, as Lord and Master you cannot know all of His attributes, only He knows His name. The theological terms for this is that He is transcendent (totally outside of or other than His creation, nothing like His creation) and He is immanent (He interacts with His creation). This baby in a manger is the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient Son of God and we can only know Him to the limit He reveals Himself.

The second thing we need to see from this passage is that the baby in the manger we have been getting acquainted with over the last couple of weeks is the conquering King. In we see Jesus as the Lamb slain to redeem His people. In He is the Lamb who has the name of His people written in His book. In He is the Redeeming Lamb who will shepherd His people. All of this speaks of salvation but in our passage this morning we see Him as the King who is wearing many crowns, suggesting that He is sovereign over all aspects of His creation. When we get to this point in Revelation He is no longer just the Redeemer, He is the sovereign King of creation. He rules over His creation as verse 15 says with an iron rod. He is obviously ruler of the hosts of heaven because they are following Him in verse 14. In verse 16 we see His clothes are even monogrammed with the name of His title King of kings and Lord of lords. He goes out and does battle against the enemies of His kingdom and He conquers them. Even the false prophet Balaam in said this about the conquering King: 17“I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.[2] So we see that this baby in the manger is the eternal transcendent and immanent God. He is totally other than His creation yet He is involved with His creation and we see also that He is the conquering King who rules over His creation.

The third thing we should see in this passage is that He, the baby in the manger, is the righteous Judge of His creation Who executes His judgment. Verse 12 and 15 - He who sat on him (the white horse) was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.[3] 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.[4] Let’s make sure we understand something before we look at the righteous Judge. When John sees Jesus executing His judgment on the nations we need to know who the nations are. If you will remember we spent a lot of time in Ephesians talking about how God made one people group out of two. Let me read some of that to you: , 11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.[5]… 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.[6] Peter makes it even more clear in 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.[7] Paul and Peter make it clear that those who are in Christ are a new people group and no longer a part of the nations of the world. We are the church. We have been taken out of the nations and made into the people of God. So when John describes this baby in the manger as the Judge who executes His judgment on the nations he is describing the wrath of God being poured out on those who have refused to repent and believe; these are the unbelievers. Now before you start forming in your mind the thoughts that that is not fair I have to ask you who you think you are to determine what justice is when He is the one called Faithful and True not you. He destroys them with the Word of God that is a sharp two edged sword just as you can read over in . The very Word of God speaking the Word of God has to power to pull down every strong hold and destroy all defenses against the purposes of the Holy God. You may think that I sound gleeful in the thought that the enemies of God will be destroyed. And to some degree I have to celebrate His righteous judgment but I cannot help but be somewhat stricken by the fact that some of those could be my family members and my friends. Which leads us to our fourth and final point.

That baby in the manger who is the conquering King and the righteous Judge is also the Captian of the armies of heaven, HE is the General in battle. Verse 12, 14-15: 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns… 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.[8] 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. I have watched a lot of movies where the Cavalry came riding in to save the day with their sabers glistening in the sun and the bugles blaring the charge to battle. But I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this. The eyes of the General of the armies of heaven are like flames of fire and the sword is not glistening in the sun it is literally from the mouth of the General. Notice that it does not say that the armies of heaven did anything but follow Him. They do not appear to have swords, or lances or guns or anything. They simply follow the One who is their leader.

I will admit that this is a future battle. The Captain is leading the hosts of heaven sometime in the future when the physical kingdom of God comes to this world. But what we need to understand is that we are in that same battle today. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. [9]We are now following our General, the Captain of our salvation, just like the hosts of heaven. But there is a difference. They followed Him as He metes out the judgment of God on all the enemies of God and the people of God. We follow Him not in judgment but in grace. We do proclaim that judgment is coming but for the purpose of demonstrating the grace and mercy that this Baby, King, Judge, and General offered on the cross. We fight the battle of the mercy of God before the judgment of God arrives. This is how this same John explained it in And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”[10] That is the battle we fight today and it is the battle of the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the power of God for salvation.

There are a few more things I would like to cover here but we have to go back to the beginning to make them clear. The Revelation of Jesus Christ was not written for the sole purpose of foretelling the future. It does that to be sure but there is reason that it was written. Revelation was written at a time and to a people who were suffering persecution. But our Lord knew that there would be even more persecution to come and that the people of God would suffer much at the hand of the enemies of God. Along with that they were being drawn away from their first love to follow a decadent culture of personal pleasure and self fulfillment. You can read all about that in the first three chapters of Revelation with the letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor; Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The purpose of the Revelation of Jesus Christ was to encourage them that Jesus was indeed the eternal God that is separate from His creation yet stoops to interact and save His people, the conquering King, the Righteous Judge, and the Captain of the armies of heaven that brings many sons to glory. These people needed to know these things about the One they had forsaken all for because He had to be their all.

Let’s stop of a moment and think; are we any different that the people in the seven churches of Asia Minor? Do we live in a world that is friendly towards the gospel of Jesus Christ? Sure they are friendly, as long as we keep the gospel within the confines of the church building. We live in a world that does to some degree persecute the church; it’s not bad, yet. But it will be worse. We are coming upon a season in history in which I believe Christianity will be marginalized and then trampled upon. But right now we definitely live in a world that is drawing us away from our first love. We have attached ourselves to our phones, our computers, our televisions, our sports, our pastimes, our pride, our… you fill in the blank. In our stuff and our activities we seek our ultimate fulfillment, we seek our happiness in anything but Jesus the Christ. But we do still celebrate the baby in the manger. Unfortunately we often forget that He is the transcendent and immanent God, He is the conquering King, He is the righteous Judge and He is the Captain of the armies of God and we are His subordinates. Make sure you understand this today before you leave. That is not in the future sometime at the end of the age. Write this down. That baby we just finished celebrating the birth of has always been, even while He was in the manger, has always been God, the conquering King, the righteous Judge, the Captain of the armies of heaven. The man Jesus who was being hounded by the Pharisees, ya, He has always been God, King, Judge and Captain. While on the cross? Ya, then too. While in the tomb? Of course. And when He rose again and ascended to the throne of heaven? What do you think? And yes when He comes again in judgment to reign over His creation bringing with Him the armies of heaven we will see Him and know Him and worship Him not as that baby in the manger but as the eternal God. But what about today? When you are in the midst of illness, or persecution or when you are in the middle of temptation trying to draw you away is He still God, King, Judge and Captain? Ya, then too. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[2] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[3] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[4] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[5] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[6] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[7] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[8] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[9] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[10] The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.