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Revelation 19:1 - 21 Pt.2

1 After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,
      “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2 BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.” 3 And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And a voice came from the throne, saying,
      “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,
      “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
     7 “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 And he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
     11 And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
     17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God; 18 in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”
     19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army.
     20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

"I saw heaven opened..."

What an economy of words!  How vast is our universe!  From the ancients who made up pictures to categorize the constellations and document their progress across the sky - to modern science that measures and plots and maps the universe + beyond.

Yet, this ancient book tells me things that science cannot find out.

The immeasurable universe is but a facade.  A theater curtain between us and God, the Almighty.

It is trillions of miles across, yet it is paper thin to our God.  When His time is fulfilled, He'll roll up the sky like a scroll.  Rev. 6, Mt. 24, Lk. 21.  Signs in the sky.  Show us a sign in the sky Jesus.

A day is coming when the sky will be ripped open.  The gazillion miles of empty blackness, torn asunder.  And men will cry out for the mountains to fall on them.

We've arrived at what we first saw in Revelation 6:12 - 17   I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

This is not a new idea in John's day.  The old testament pictures the messiah as rending the heavens and coming down.

Isaiah 64:1,2 say 1Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence-- 2As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil-- To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence!…

Joel 2:30,31 says   “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
            Blood, fire and columns of smoke.

      31“The sun will be turned into darkness
            And the moon into blood
            Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

And Micah says;  ch.1 …2Hear, O peoples, all of you; Listen, O earth and all it contains, And let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple. 3For behold, the LORD is coming forth from His place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. 4The mountains will melt under Him And the valleys will be split, Like wax before the fire, Like water poured down a steep place.…

This is what the jews were expecting.  They taunted Jesus;  Mk.8:11  The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, demanding of Him a sign from heaven to test Him.

This passage is a marvelous marriage of what is known, and what is un-knowable.

The prophet tries, with his words, to tell us, but we don't have anything in our catalog of images and possibilities to make a picture with.  He tells us, and we can only imagine.  My picture is different from your picture.

This passage is the pinnacle.  The climax of the story.  The story of paradise lost, in Genesis 3, is regained, here.  From Genesis 3 forward, the story is going here.  Jesus re-takes this world.  Satan's day is over.  The Beast and the false prophet are thrown down to hell - alive!  Kings and mighty men - become so much bird dung scattered on the scorched earth.

There's so much here, it's easy to feel daunted.  How can we do it any justice?

As I read it over and over this week, I kept thinking, some of the preachers I love to listen to could spend months in here.  

I listed 16 points.  We should spend 45 minutes on each one!

⦁    heaven opened
⦁    white horse - meaning - significance
⦁    Faithful & True - names #1 and #2
⦁    His judgements are righteous
⦁    His war is righteous
⦁    His eyes are a flame of fire
⦁    Crown Him with many Crowns.  Many diadems
⦁    Name only He knows.  Un-revealed truth.  Deut 29:29
⦁    His robe is dipped in blood
⦁    His name is Word of God. #4  Heb. 4:12; John 1
⦁    Armies - Lord of Hosts - fine linen - white horses - us
⦁    Sword - does battle - Eph. 6
⦁    Nations - ruled w/rod of iron - gladness
⦁    Grapes crushed.  Winepress of Wrath of God
⦁    King of Kings and Lord of Lords #5 & 6
⦁    feast for birds.  mighty become dung on scorched earth

Fasten your seat belts.  I'm not one of those preachers, and I fear I won't do this justice.  

11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

The conqueror always enters on a white horse.

It shouldn't be lost on us that in Revelation 6, anti-christ, the false messiah who conquers the world without war (holds a bow but no arrows) rides in on a white horse.  False messiah.  False peace.  Not faithful.  Not true.  War and pestilence and death follow him and there's nothing he can do about it.  In unrighteousness false messiah judges God's elect and wages war against anything that belongs to the true God of heaven.

The return of Jesus, messiah, in this passage is a forced comparison of false and true.  Many of the descriptive words here are the anti-thesis of what anti-christ claimed.

He is the Real Conqueror.  He IS faithful.  He IS true.  His judgement IS righteous.  His war is against all the false and evil and haters of God.

He comes to wage war with the Beast and False Prophet.  They are NOT faithful.  They have broken every treaty, every promise.  They are NOT true.  They are diabolically connected with the father of lies.

Compare what Jesus said to the pharisees in John 8 to this passage.  "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Faithful,  True,  Righteous,  are His judgements and rule.  Just the opposite of Satan.

We'll see six names for Jesus in this passage.  Faithful and True are the first 2.

Sometimes when we think of the gravity and extent of judgement on men we have to remind ourselves.  This is the faithful end of unrepentent unrighteousness.  Truth must end here, or it isn't truth.  Righteousness would not be worth anything if judgement didn't come.  

Billions of men are going to die on this day.  Righteousness demands it.  They are called to the wedding and choose to be wicked instead.  They are enemies of the King, and there's no righteous way around this conclusion.

 12  His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.

This is parallel with the vision of the glorified Christ in chapter 1.  14His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire.

Piercing eyes.  No one can hide from this judge.  In our modern times we think of focused light, lasers which can pierce through steel.  These eyes are more piercing than anything we've imagined.  They can see your sin.  All of it.

And on is head, diademata.  Diadems, plural.  Crowns.  Many crowns.  

In Revelation 12:3 and 13:1 we see this dragon with seven heads and ten horns.  Both times the seven heads have diadems.  Crowns.  

Jesus takes every crown away.  They all belong to Him.  How many?  MANY!  All of them, that's how many.  Crown Him with Many Crowns!  The Lamb upon His throne.

How I love that old hymn.  I've sung it at the top of my voice, drowned out by thousands of other voices!  My eyes get wet.  My longing for heaven and This day that we're studying tonight is maxed out.  All of the crowns are His!

12b. ..and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.

A name written on Him that no one knows.  My mind goes immediately to Deuteronomy 29:29  The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

Consider the things revealed.  Can anyone get to the bottom of this book we have?!  It is a bottomless gold mine.  You can't in anyone's lifetime exhaust the treasure.  You can't even get close.

I was thinking of an illustration.  The word of God, the revealed words of God, are like the Grand Canyon.  Most people never see it at all.  A few pictures, maybe.  Some stand at the edge and peer in!  We gasp at the vastness.  

That vastness is the things revealed.  What about the secrets?  If what is revealed is that vast, what about the things not revealed?  Our minds can't take it in.  

This verse that tells me of a name that Jesus has that no one knows but Him is a teaser.  It's just God letting me know that eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1Cor. 2:9

Keep that in mind as we continue on through the devastation and judgement of this passage.  None of the glory and power and authority and judgement comes from what is un-revealed.  The Word of God accomplishes it.  What we hold in our hands is sufficient for the King of Kings to come and judge.  No hidden truth is needed.  This book will do it!

13  He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood,  

His robe is dipped in blood because he treads the wine press of the wrath of God!

and His name is called The Word of God.

This is the 4rth name.  Word of God.  This is an association that I'm convinced far too few christians think about.  

Words of God created the universe and everything in it.  

Words of God have the ability to lift a dead sinner out of this world, quicken him alive together with Christ, and make him a fellow heir of heavenly things we haven't even thought of yet.

Words of God have the ability to judge this world.

I couldn't help but think about Zechariah's somewhat bizarre prophecy about the flying scroll.  5:1  Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll. 2And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” 3Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. 4“I will make it go forth,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.”

The word of God consuming thieves and liars.  Timber and stone.

Jesus IS the Word of God!  Jn. 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

You're all familiar with Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

We're created by words, saved by words, judged by words.  We don't pay enough attention to this living book of ours.  This is Jesus.  We sing and weep and pray for more of Him, and he lays on our shelves and gets dusty.

This is the Word of God.  Jesus is the Word of God.  We think it's talking about 2 different things!  His name is called 'The Word of God'

14  And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

Last week we looked at the wedding.  This is the honeymoon folks.  We get to charge out of heaven on White Horses as Conquerors with Jesus.  

Paul in perhaps the most famous chapter in the Bible, Romans 8 says;  36Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us..

Without Jesus, we would be losers.  Raven dung.  With Jesus, in Jesus, we are more than conquerors!  It's none of us, all of Him!

Vs.15  From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

The third stanza of Luther's famous hymn came into my mind.  Just the last line, I had to look up the rest.  One little word shall fell him.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

And His name is called the Word of God.  From His mouth comes a sharp sword.

You will remember the false messiah has a bow with no arrows.   The true messiah has a sword which is the Word of God.  With it He will strike down the nations.  Rule with a rod of Iron.  Tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God.  This is the little word Luther spoke of.

Are you curious what those words might be that are so powerful as to crush nations and send Satan and the Beast and the False Prophet to hell.  Here they are:

Vs. 16  And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Look with me at Matthew 28:18  And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

Jesus has had the authority to reign on earth since the resurrection.  Before His Ascension back into heaven he said those words to his apostles.  He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords . . NOW and forever.

There is enough power in those words to crush all of His enemies, to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and to send satan to hell.

The rest of the passage is a description of just that.  Final disposition of our enemies.

 17  Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, 18  so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.”

A great irony!  Everyone is invited to the feast.  Come to my banquet, says God.  Everything is ready!  Everyone has an excuse why they won't be coming.  If you miss God's feast, you become the feast.

All of the worlds great men.  The great thinkers who have dismissed God.  The great movers who led the charge for same sex marriage.  The great politicians who re-shaped the world against God after the church was gone.  The great world religion leaders who at first gathered the world to a common religion devoid of anything from God, and later sold out wholesale to the Beast.  The great rich men who became filthy with money when anti-christ re-organized the world.  Plus all the soldiers.  Plus all the ordinary folk who worshipped the beast.  

Every one of them will be spread all over the earth as dung.  Made from dirt.  Returned to the earth as . . dirt.  Via birds.

The sword which is the Word of God will slay them all.  The birds will eat their flesh.  There will be no one to bury them.  The birds will feast and then nature will take it's course.  All of these important men will become fertilizer.  No wonder the world will blossum during the kingdom!  Fertilizer made from important folk, everywhere.  So much for the world's lists of VIP's.

I am reminded of Moses.  When he came down from Mount Sinaii and the people were out of control in Exodus 32; 19It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. 20He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

Guess what that golden calf became.  Excrement.  God has a wonderful plan for your life if you reject Him.  I think this is marvelous irony.  

Make a note.  When the Word of God goes out to birds.  Birds obey!  People are the only thing in creation who are foolish enough to think they don't have to obey the Words of Almighty God.  This is the end of that foolishness!

 19  And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

The birds have been made ready.  This assemblage of kings and armies is actually a final obedience.  Sovereign God has been in direct control of this day since pre-history.  This is God's doing.  Sure, He uses Satan and the demons to draw the armies of the earth to this land for this day, but ultimately, God is in control of these final things.

When the Bible talks about the "day of the Lord".  IF you were going to narrow it down to a single day, this is it.  This is the day all heaven and earth have waited for since Satan took his place as king over this earth in Genesis 3.

There is a fascinating perspective of this event written for us 1,000 years before Jesus, 3000+ years before the event;  (if my guess is close)  in Psalms 2

      1Why are the nations in an uproar
            And the peoples devising a vain thing?

      2The kings of the earth take their stand
            And the rulers take counsel together
            Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

      3“Let us tear their fetters apart
            And cast away their cords from us!”

      4He who sits in the heavens laughs,
            The Lord scoffs at them.

      5Then He will speak to them in His anger
            And terrify them in His fury, saying,

      6“But as for Me, I have installed My King
            Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

“Let us tear their fetters apart  And cast away their cords from us!”

Fetters are restraints.  The world hates a God who restrains them from their sin.

Is this not the battle cry in the United States of America . . . daily.  I can't seem to turn on the news without hearing of another state attorney general who refuses to honor the wishes of the people of their own state and rejects marriage only of one man one woman.   DAILY!

Are we not shaking our puny fists in God's face.  Spitting as far as we can reach in His direction.

“Let us tear their fetters apart  And cast away their cords from us!”

Recall a line in Jesus story in Luke 19 about the 10 mina's.  But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

The whole world is going to gather on this day and fight against the rule of the God they hate.

All of history has led to this day when Jesus comes and re-takes His rightful throne, and re-installs men as rulers with Him.  This is the fall from paradise, completely reversed.  Satan deposed!  Men reigning over earth With Christ.

But first, the Day of the Lord.  Armegheddon if you will.  The final battle where men throw everything they've got at Lord Jesus.   King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  With His robe dipped in blood.  Their blood.

Vs. 20  And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

What a terrifying end.  Unimaginable terror and anguish forever and ever.  Such will be the end of all who hate creator God.  Eventually.  After the thousand year reign of Christ at the final judgement, all of God's enemies will go here.  But for now, the beast and the false prophet will be in torment here alone.

 21  And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

The rest were killed.  Millions and millions.  Killed by the word of God.  The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

We'll close our thoughts tonight with words from the prophet Joel written 2500 years ago;  Chapter 3, beginnning in vs. 9

       9Proclaim this among the nations:
            Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!
            Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!

      10Beat your plowshares into swords
            And your pruning hooks into spears;
            Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”

      11Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
            And gather yourselves there.
            Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones.

      12Let the nations be aroused
            And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
            For there I will sit to judge
            All the surrounding nations.

      13Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
            Come, tread, for the wine press is full;
            The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.

      14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
            For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

      15The sun and moon grow dark
            And the stars lose their brightness.

      16The LORD roars from Zion
            And utters His voice from Jerusalem,
            And the heavens and the earth tremble.
            But the LORD is a refuge for His people
            And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.

      17Then you will know that I am the LORD your God,
            Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.
            So Jerusalem will be holy,
            And strangers will pass through it no more.