The King's Return
True Story: God's Vision for His Church • Sermon • Submitted
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ME: Intro - Compare first and second coming of Christ
ME: Intro - Compare first and second coming of Christ
Last week,
I ended my sermon saying,
It is all about Christ,
It has always been about Christ,
It will always be about Christ.
And that is true of our passage this morning.
The Story of the King’s return is all about Christ,
It has always been about Christ,
And it will always be about Christ.
The Story of the King’s Return begins with;
A King of Many Names (vs. 11-16)
A Feast of Many People (vs. 17-18)
A Victory with Little Resistance (vs. 19-21)
Jesus is the central figure of the entire Bible,
But He is especially central to our passage this morning.
With that in mind, to begin this morning,
I would like to do a biblical presentation of what we call Christology,
The study of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The middle section of Revelation has shown God’s cycles of judgment upon sin.
These cycles lead up to the Second Coming we see this morning.
The Second Coming is presented in the form of warfare.
Something we are presently participating in until that day comes.
But as John 3 teaches,
Everyone who has placed their trust in Christ has been born again.
Making us overcomers of this war,
As John tells us in 1 John 5:4-5;
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
It is through Christ that we overcome this war,
So, it is only appropriate that He would lead the armies of God to wage the final battle against all of God’s enemies,
In particular, the beast and the false prophet,
Who were described in ch. 13 as unholy copycats of the holy Christ described in our passage this morning.
God has waged wars on behalf of His people many a time,
A quick survey of the OT reveals a litany of examples;
Ex. 15:2; Deut. 20; Isaiah 59:16-18; Ezek. 38-39; Hab. 3:8-15; Zech. 12:1-9; 14:3-5;
But this final war brings all these previous wars to a head and consummates the triumph that had already been secured by Christ on the cross!
This was spoken of earlier in Rev. 12:10-11; and Col. 2:15;
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
WE: A King of Many Names (vs. 11-16)
WE: A King of Many Names (vs. 11-16)
Turn your attention now to Rev. 19:11-16, where we see A King of Many Names
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. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 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.
Last weeks passage ends with John having an angelic vision.
Overwhelmed by the angel,
John begins to participate in false worship of the angel,
But the angel rebukes him,
Then, ch. 19 transitions in vs. 11 with John no longer seeing merely an angel,
But he sees the source of the angel’s glory.
Heaven opens and John sees the Lord, Jesus Himself, and all His glory!
This is similar to what John saw back in Rev. 4:1;
After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
But this time,
It is not just John seeing the heavenly presence of God,
All of humanity sees heaven opened here.
And from heaven, comes Jesus, riding on a white horse.
The primary association of horses in Scripture are their usage to form cavalries in war.
They are a symbol of strength.
The appearance of Christ on the horse in all His majesty signals the end of the spiritual battle.
And with it, the destruction of all God’s enemies.
Last week, we saw just a few verses earlier that the church is the bride of Christ,
Now, here in vs. 11, our bridegroom comes riding in on His noble steed to make war on the injustices of our world.
Jesus is not arrogantly riding in like the beast did when he blasphemed God back in ch. 13.
Faithful and True (vs. 11)
This is why the first name we see Him called in this passage is Faithful and True.
This is more than a description of Jesus,
He is the embodiment of faithfulness and truth.
Name written that no one knows but Himself (vs. 12)
His description goes on in vs. 12,
Said to have eyes like a fiery flame.
This is the second time in Revelation we see this,
Back in Rev. 1:14, we saw the same description.
It tells us that Jesus has the ability to see the unseen,
He can peer into our souls,
Into the deepest and darkest depths of our hearts and minds,
There is nothing that can remain hidden from Jesus.
This is both a comforting truth but also a convicting truth.
The overall description of Jesus here,
Echos the description of Daniel’s vision in Dan. 10:6;
It is also the inspiration behind the song we sang earlier,
Crown Him with Many Crowns!
It is a specific crown,
A royal diadem,
A crown covered with jewels and precious stones.
It shows that Christ has greater power and authority than the crowns worn by the dragon in 12:3 and the beast in 13:1.
It symbolically communicates the name we see at the end of vs. 16,
The King of kings and Lord of lords wears the Crown of crowns.
The second name of Jesus in this passage is a mystery to us.
At the end of vs. 12 it says that no one knows this name but Himself.
What an interesting thing for God’s Word to say.
I cannot say with absolute certainty what God means to tell us with this phrase,
But it would seem that He is keeping us humble in a sense,
Putting us in our place, if you will.
Not in an abusive or overpowering manner,
But in a gentle and loving fashion.
He is reminding us that God does not reveal everything about Himself and His plan to us,
Nor must He.
As Deut. 29:29 says;
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
God has revealed to us what we need to have revealed to us.
As the Apostle Peter makes clear in 2 Pet. 1:3;
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
Jesus is “The Word of God” (vs. 13)
The name by which Jesus is called in vs. 13 is The Word of God.
He was introduced as such in John 1:1;
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The armies accompany Jesus but do not fight (vs. 14)
The rod of iron Christ rules with is a reference to Psalm 2:9; and Isaiah 11:4;
The description of the winepress echoes the judgment outlined in Joel 3:13;
GOD: A Feast of Many People (vs. 17-18)
GOD: A Feast of Many People (vs. 17-18)
Rev. 19:17-18;
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.”
Unbelievers try to escape judgment (vs. 17)
The only command in this entire passage is the angel’s command for these birds to gather,
In preparation to gorge themselves of the flesh of unbelievers of every kind.
This great supper of God is an allusion back to Ezekiel 39:17-20;
No discrimination (vs. 18)
YOU: A Victory with Little Resistance (vs. 19-21)
YOU: A Victory with Little Resistance (vs. 19-21)
Rev. 19:19-21;
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. 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.
Those who are condemned are not annihilated (vs. 19-20)
The beast is the antichrist who was introduced back in ch. 13,
And we see him gathered with the kings of the earth and their armies.
This event occurs at the place called Armageddon,
Which we saw back in Rev. 16:14-16.
It is a fulfilment of Psalm 2:2;
They are all geared up, ready for battle,
The largest battle of all time,
And I do not believe that the kings of the earth and their armies even realize who they are facing off against.
Because this massive battle ends up being quite…anticlimactic.
Before the battle even begins, it is over.
In vs. 20, the leaders of the army,
The beast and the false prophet,
Become the first two residents in the lake of fire.
We talked about this place earlier in ch. 14,
The lake of fire is talking about a literal Hell.
A place of endless eternal torment.
And while the antichrist and the false prophet are the first two thrown into Hell,
They will not be the only ones,
Rev. 20:10 says the devil will join them,
Rev. 20:14 says Death and Hades will be thrown in as well,
Then sadly, Rev. 20:15 says anyone whose name is not written in the book of life will be thrown in too.
Rev. 21:8 describes those whose names are not written in the book of life.
Hell is referred to as a lake of fire because fire is associated with God’s all-consuming judgment throughout the Bible.
For example, Is. 66:15-16; Joel 2:3;
Jesus is set apart from every other person (vs. 21)
The only weapon Jesus needs for this battle is His Word.
WE:
WE:
*When Christ returns and the battle ensues, you can stand behind Him or before Him, where will you be?
Those who stand behind win the battle without lifting a finger.
Those who stand before will be destroyed by Christ without Him lifting a finger.
The Incomparable Christ (p. 300-301)