Book of Revelation (18)
Book of Revelation • Sermon • Submitted
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We just went through the destruction of the world and the Evil powers that were manipulating those around them.
Chapter 19-22 is about the coming kingdom and Jesus’ triumphant return.
After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
The voices of the saints are crying out Hallelujah. Interestingly enough this word is used only 4 times in the new testament and is only found in this chapter. It means praise the Lord.
for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”
And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Now I don’t know weather or not the imagery of the bride of Christ is literal. The idea of relating a body of believers to a bride stems all the way to the OT. I believe it’s this way because it’s the closest relationship on earth that can match the relationship of Christ with his followers. I have difficulty believing that we are the literal bride as we don’t mush together to form one giant being.
There are several important things to note here:
The fact that the bride is dressed and ready is part of the reason many scholars believe that the church will be raptured before the times of tribulation. I don’t know about you, but it takes a while for a bride to get ready. Which would include everyone who gave their lives for Christ during the time of tribulation.
The bride is dressed in fine linen-The righteous deeds of the saints.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.
And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
If you aren’t clothed with rightouse deeds—Or obedience—than you are cast out into darkness.
I believe this is why Jesus said Not everyone who calls me Lord. Because it’s one thing to verbalize it. Completely different is to be obedient. And God equates obedience to love.
Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Notice that even the angels refuse to accept God’s worship
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.
White horse symbolizes victory and purity.
Name or collection of names written on himself that no one knows. The names of God or Jesus are always indicative of their attributes. So there is an attribute of Jesus that will only be seen when Jesus is on his Horse. We don’t know what it is or what it relates to, but if everything follows suit it has to be a personality trait.
Diadems= crowns
Remember the beast only has one. Jesus has many.
Many think that the warriors who follow Jesus are angels, but if you look closely the outfits they are dressed in are the same outfits spoken about in the verses before this one. Those verses talked about us. We are, in this scenario, the army of God of the white horses follow Christ to victory.
This is also comparable to the authority Christ gave us over the forces of evil on the earth. The ability to cast out, to block the power of etc.
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.
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 supper is different, this isn’t the marriage supper, rather the feast of defeating evil.
“As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.
You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan.
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.
And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord God.
“I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.