THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Revelation: God's Revelation To His Servants Today On Events About To Occur

Part IV: "The Things Which Shall Be Hereafter": Events After The Rapture Of The Church

D. The Second Coming Of Jesus Christ

(Revelation 19:11-21)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Events on the world scene can make even the secular world long for a righteous deliverer. The Republican-American, 12/22/2014, p. 6A ran Jonah Goldberg's piece, "Calling Captain America" that told how "(t)he first issue of Captain America . . . Dec. 20, 1940" showed "Cap slugging Adolf Hitler in the mouth." Goldberg commented, "Good stuff, but note the date," and he went on to lament how after the recent attack on Sony Pictures by "henchmen for the North Korean regime . . . America is effectively giving one of the most evil regimes in human history a veto on our First Amendment." Jonah closed his editorial by asking, "Where's Captain America when you need him?"

That question might be asked following Tom Hays' story, "Cops asked to change routines," Ibid., p. 1A, that told of recent slayings of police officers around the nation, noting they had come when "(p)olice nationwide are being criticized for months for their tactics, following Garner's death in a New York officer's choke-hold and Brown's fatal shooting in Ferguson, Mo." Goldberg's question could be asked after the story on p. 5A about "(s)even Taliban gunmen wearing explosives belts" who stormed into a "school . . . slaughtering 148 people, including 132 students."

Mr. Goldberg's question could be made in regard to a story on p. 5A (Ibid.) that cited "French authorities" as claiming "a driver deliberately slammed into passers-by," or about a section in the paper (Ibid., p. 2A) on the Waterbury Superior Court dispositions: though they are released monthly and reported daily, the paper ran the court's October 20th records in its December 22nd issue "because of the large number of cases." In other words, there are so many cases due to wrongs in the area, the paper is two months behind even reporting on them!

Need: So, we ask, "What hope and guidance does the Bible give on a righteous deliverer for our needy world?!"

I. We noted in our last message that God's angel in Revelation 19:10 said that "the very nature or purpose of prophecy is to testify of Jesus Christ and to bring glory to Him," Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 975.

II. Revelation 19:11-21 then shows how Christ will intervene in our troubled world at His Second Coming:

A. First, Rev. 19:11-16 describes Jesus Christ in His glory as He prepares to intervene in earth's troubled affairs:

1. John reported how he saw heaven opened to present Christ, indicating He was about to return to the Mount of Olives from where He had ascended back in Acts 1:1-11; cf. Zechariah 14:1-5; Revelation 19:11a.

2. Jesus was riding a white horse, what triumphant Roman generals rode in returning victorious from battle, Ibid., p. 947, 976; Rev. 19:11b. Christ will here be triumphant over even the antichrist who appears on a white horse as the initial world conqueror in the first seal judgment back in Revelation 6:2.

3. Christ is the "Faithful and True" One (Rev. 19:11c), an expression appearing in Revelation 3:14 that in turn alludes to Jeremiah 42:5 where God in the context holds proud, rebellious rejecters of His human messenger's words accountable for rebellion against His Word. Christ at His return will thus punish those who have proudly reject God's messages delivered by His messengers down through history!

4. Christ will return in "righteousness" to "judge and make war," an expression recalling Isaiah 11:4 where God brings justice for the poor and meek as He wars in the end time against their oppressors, Rev. 19:11d!

5. Christ's eyes are a "flame of fire" (Rev. 19:12a), meaning His penetrating view of man evaluates whether one should be rewarded or punished, for He is fully capable of judging all humans in total righteousness!

6. On His head are many diadema, "crowns of royal authority" (Abbott & Smith, A Man. Grk. Lex. of the N. T., 1968, p. 106), meaning Christ will have the authority to judge all men, Rev. 19:12b with John 5:22.

7. Jesus is also said to have a name written that no man but He Himself knows, Rev. 19:12c, and we explain:

a. We noted in Rev. 2:17 that Greek writers Plutarch [Life of Pericles 64] and Pliny [Letters 6:11] told how winners at the Olympic Games, in returning to their hometowns, got white stones with their names carved on them to signify that the state would support them for life (ancientbiblehistory.com, "White Stone").

b. However, in Christ's case in Rev. 19:12c, there is no reference to a white stone as Christ is risen from the dead after His triumph at the cross, that He needs no earthly livelihood support as He is indestructible.

c. In a similar theme, Judges 13:18 presents the Preincarnate Christ's claim to Samson's father, Manoah, that His name is incomprehensible to man, and the context deals with Christ's enabling Samson to be a one-man military conqueror of the Philistines who then oppressed the nation Israel!

d. Thus, Christ as the All-Sufficient, Mighty Warrior is presented both in Greek and Near Eastern cultures!

e. Well, the Ancient Near East had a widespread belief "that a mighty warrior-king could consummate an entire military campaign in a single day," Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1412, from whence the term "Day of the Lord" arose to describe God's "Mighty Warrior" intervention in the end times of the world! (Ibid.)

f. Thus, Christ as having a name written that no man knows but Himself as seen both in Greek and Ancient Near Eastern cultures as identifying Him as the Indestructible Mighty Warrior, Foe to all evil enemies of God and the godly, Who will wage holy war in the end time that results in His total victory!

8. Jesus wears a robe that is utterly soaked (dipped) in blood (Rev. 19:13a), alluding to Isaiah 63:3 where God in great fury stains His entire garment while treading the winepress of His wrath [at Armageddon]!

9. He is here called "The Word of God," a term used only in John's writings and only of Jesus Christ, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Revelation 19:13 (cf. John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1; 5:7).

10. The holy angels of heaven follow Christ, dressed in white on white horses to indicate their holiness and victory behind their Great Warrior Leader, the Lord Jesus Christ, Revelation 19:14!

11. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword that Hebrews 4:12 identifies as God's Word, and Christ will use that Word to smite the evil nations. He will also rule the world with an iron rod as Absolute Monarch after He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God at Armageddon, Revelation 19:15.

12. On His vesture and running down to His thigh is the title, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS," alluding to Deut. 10:14 where God as "King of Kings" sovereignly upholds the cause of the vulnerable and to Dan. 2:47 where God as "Lord of Lords" is sovereign over even mighty Gentile rulers over His people!

13. In summary, then, Christ in Revelation 19:11-16 is presented as infinitely willing and able to relieve the afflicted righteous and to crush all their evil foes, including the antichrist, and to do so in divine fury by way of His mere spoken Word by which He created and now sustains the universe! (Hebrews 1:1-3)

B. Rev. 19:17-21 then describes Christ's intervention in man's troubled affairs at His return to earth:

1. God's angel in Revelation 19:17-18 calls the world's birds to gather at Armageddon to eat the wedding "supper" of the Great God, the bodies of those soldiers to be slain at the battle of Armageddon.

2. This "supper" is a key event in Revelation: (a) in our past study of Rev. 16:13-16, we found that Satan, the antichrist and false prophet had 3 "frog" demons exit their mouths to deceive the world's kings to gather at Armageddon to do battle, and these demons taught [the ancient Egyptian belief of] the resurrection of the slain [by "frog" goddess, Heqet], pledging that as the antichrist was allegedly resurrected after his lethal sword wound (Rev. 13:14), if these soldiers were to die at Armageddon, they too would be raised! (b) So, with God calling the world's birds to eat the corpses of the slain versus the "frog" demons' promise to raise those bodies, the scene is set for a huge battle between God and Satan in physical AND spiritual realms!

3. When Armageddon occurs, Christ, the Mighty Warrior, prevails: antichrist and the false prophet are caught and cast alive into the lake of fire versus their promise of resurrection (Rev. 19:19-20), the armies opposing Christ are slain by His spoken word (Rev. 19:21a) and the birds of the world fill themselves with the slain bodies in God's triumph over the false claims of resurrection by the "frog" demons, Rev. 19:21b!

Lesson: Jesus Christ in all His glory as the Risen God Incarnate will wage holy war at His Second Coming, acting as our Mighty Warrior in great fury by His mere spoken word as He utterly defeats the world's evil forces!

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ to be saved, John 3:16. (2) May we heed His Word in our lives, living expectantly for the Rapture and our return with Him in His triumphant Second Coming entrance into the world!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In our sermon introduction, we noted how Jonah Goldberg's editorial, "Calling Captain America," lamented a wrong by "henchmen for the North Korean regime . . . one of the most evil regimes in human history" when their "(c)omputer hackers . . . attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment" while "America" only "effectively" gave "a veto on our First Amendment." Jonah had closed his editorial, asking, "Where's Captain America when you need him?"

However, we believers do not need to hope in a fictitious "Captain America" to punish evildoers and to relieve the afflicted upright, for we have a true "Mighty Warrior" in our Lord Jesus Christ! He is returning in divine fury to wage war on the world's oppressive evildoers and to render justice for the upright in complete righteousness!

May we respond to our troubled world by fixing our hope on our Great Warrior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and may we heed His Biblical will for us on the earth today as we prepare to spend eternity with Him!