Transcript

Take your Bibles and let’s go to Revelation 19. I didn’t intend for this to be a two-parter but it grabbed me and wouldn’t let go so we’re going to look again at “The Incomparable, Unrivaled Christ.” Now, we are at the point of Christ’s permanent coming, that is, when he returns to the earth and will establish his kingdom on the earth. The rapture, the catching together of the church together unto him in the air has already occurred, the seven years of tribulation have occurred and now we have Christ returning to the earth this time, not just to the sky but to the earth and establishing his permanent presence on planet earth. So let’s look at Revelation 19, beginning in verse 13 as we continue with the second half of this and we’ll go down through verse 21.

13 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 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. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” 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.” 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.

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 on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

The incomparable, unrivaled Christ. I. As we look at our text, first of all, he’s coming again to vindicate himself. To vindicate himself. Jesus said a lot about who he was and why he came but he was rejected. He was scorned. He was ridiculed. He was falsely accused. Ultimately crucified. But there is a time when he’s coming again and he will be absolutely vindicated in all that he claimed about himself. Look at verse 13 if you will, the last half, and this is where we pick up from last time. It says, “His name is called The Word of God.” That’s an interesting name isn’t it? But you see, just as a word is an expression of a thought, so Christ is the expression of God. We reveal thoughts from one human mind to another human mind through words so Christ, the eternal word of God, reveals God to men. He embodies in human form the very immutable authoritative truth of God. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Hebrews 1:3 says that he is “the exact representation of His nature,” or of God’s nature. If you want to see God, look at Jesus. If you want to hear God, listen to Jesus. If you want to find God, come to Jesus. He’s not just a signpost or an example of the way, he is the word of God. He is the way. He is the embodiment of God.

Now, the Bible you see, is the perfect word in written form, Jesus is the perfect word in bodily form. He’s the incarnate word. Every word in the Bible is a word concerning Jesus. I’ve gotten to where I’m not really fond of red letter Bibles. Have you got one of those? A red letter Bible? As if somehow the words in red are more authoritative or more from Christ than the words that are written in black. But that’s just not true. Every word in all the Bible is all about him and all that he has to say to us. One pastor was counseling with me one day and he said, “I have a problem, one of my lead deacons told me the other day that I needed to quit preaching through Ephesians and just preach Jesus.” Now, there’s a lot of that thinking out there. What this deacon probably meant was, “We just want to hear the good, loving, kind life lessons of Jesus and not all of this rich theological doctrine that you’re unfolding in Ephesians,” which by the way, is full of the sovereign grace of God. But we have a lot of that going on today as if we’re to take a few phrases from Jesus’ life and the rest of the Bible, “Oh it’s helpful but it’s not really the words of Christ or really the words of God.” That’s simply not true.

Now if your father left home for an extended period of time, you would cherish the last things he said from his own mouth but you would also cherish and treasure and look forward to the letters he would send while he was away that give you encouragement and instruction and guidance because he is presently away from you. Well, it’s the same way with the word of God. The Lord gave us wonderful, beautiful things that he spoke from his very mouth while he was on the earth and those are recorded in the Gospels but then he also wrote some things to us through other men that chronicle the rest of the New Testament text and all of it is the word of God. He dictated these for us. Throughout the Bible, we have the words of Christ. Through Luke, he dictated Acts. Through Paul, he dictated Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Hebrews. Through Peter, he dictated 1 and Peter. Through Jude, he dictated Jude. Through John, he dictated 1, 2 and 3 John and Revelation. These letters give us a thoroughly sufficient manual. They give us the precepts of God on how we are to live for him in everyday life but now when he comes again, he, the word of God, will appear and those who denied that he is God and those who denied that he is God’s truth to man and those who rejected him as the only true revelation sent from God, will be put to shame and he will be vindicated when he appears.

The Scripture says that he is the only sovereign to whom all must submit. Look down in verse 16, if you will. The Bible says, “And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘King of kings, and Lord of lords.'” This is actually the third name that has been given to him. Up in verse 12, we have that phrase that he “has a name that no one knows but himself.” We concluded that this must mean that he is one of unknowable greatness. A name is the expression of the character or the attributes of a person, especially in ancient Israel this was true. But Christ has a name that no one knows. Why is that? Because he’s unknowable in his greatness. Also as we just saw in verse 13, he is called “The Word of God.” He is the very truth of God come to us.

Thirdly, we have here in verse 16, he is, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” which means he’s coming in this Second Coming to be ruler and Lord of the earth. Pilate said, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” but this isn’t complete. He’s not just King of the Jews, my friend, he is King of the universe. He is King of kings and he is Lord of lords. When he returns, draped across his breast will be that banner that is entitled, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Now, man has honored many kings and man has bowed before and served many lords but none compare to him. He’s not just another king and he’s not just another lord, he is the King of kings and he’s the Lord of lords and every king must and every king will yield to him. Every lord will bow to him. That’s when Isaiah chapter 9 and the prophecy foretold there will be fulfilled, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders.” What does that mean? That means all authority, all control, all sovereignty will rest on him. Wouldn’t that be a nice thing to happen? No, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing to happen? Oh, we have rulers today and we know how fallible they are, how weak they are, how inconsistent they are, how false they are in so many ways, but not this Jesus. He is coming and in his coming he will vindicate who he is.

Let me take from these basic truths three things that I think he’s going to vindicate, many more perhaps but at least these three. First of all, he’s going to vindicate his person. I mean, when he comes in such majesty and penetrating glory, the vindication of his person will be made complete. There will be no question about it. He said that he was virgin born but his critics and skeptics said that he was a child of adultery. He said he was Abraham’s son of the promised line of Abraham. His critics the Jewish religious authorities said, “No you’re not. We are Abraham’s sons.” He said he was sent by his Father. Those who opposed him said, “No, you’re an imposter.” He said he was God in human form, God incarnate. His enemies looked at him and said, “No, you are of your father the devil.” That’s gone on for ages and perhaps the most difficult and grievous to me of all of those who deny him are those who pledge a feigned obedience to him. In other words, they don’t truly honor him. They don’t truly love him. They don’t truly want to follow him. But they give some sort of outward show of it. They’ll call him a great teacher but they’ll not honor him as Lord and God. They’ll refer to him as a great philosopher of the ages but they don’t bow to him as King of kings and Lord of lords.

They’ll call him the highest example of mankind. They’ll put a spin and a twist on his teaching and say that Jesus was really all about bringing economic justice to the earth or he came to lift up the materially or the financially oppressed. Well listen my friend, you can believe that all you want. He is a liberator, by the way, but he’s a spiritual liberator to those who believe in him and confess their sins and trust him as Lord and Savior. But don’t put a spin on his words and work it around so that he might fit your socialism or your communism. That’s not who he is. In fact, when Jesus left this earth after his first coming, he left millions in material and economic oppression. Why did he leave them like that? Because that was not the purpose of his coming. His first coming was to come to bring spiritual justice and spiritual liberation to those who realized they were spiritually oppressed and needed release from the bondage of sin. But when he comes again, all lies, all spins, all twistings and all out-and-out deniers and rejecters and ridiculers of Christ will be completely stopped. They will have nothing left to say. Their lies will be stopped. Their spins will unravel. He will demonstrate to all that he is who he claimed to be: the virgin born yet physical descendent of Abraham; the sinless, holy Son of God; God in human form. There he appears in majesty and glory and the Scriptures say, “There he is, the word of God.” God’s very expression of himself to man.

But not only will he vindicate his person, he is going to vindicate his position. Jesus taught us that he was both the prophet sent from God, he’s the priest sent from God and he is the only King sent from God and that’s how we embrace him. We listen only to him because he’s the only true prophet. We look only to him because he’s the only true priest. We bow only to him because he’s the only true King and this makes up the office, if you will, or the position of Messiah. Now they mocked him. They rejected him. They ridiculed him. They twisted his words and falsely accused him and then they crucified him and then Pilate had the audacity to put a placard over his head as he’s hanging on a cross and said, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” But I’m telling you, when he returns again, it will be clear to all, there will be not one question, one discussion, there will not be one who can deny that he is God’s only true prophet, only true priest and only true King. He is the Messiah sent from God.

Not only of his person and his position but he’ll vindicate his power. In his first coming, Jesus did not often show his great power. He did some wonderful and miraculous things but he was very restrained. He veiled his divine prerogatives. He was seen as meek and humble. As he came into Jerusalem before his crucifixion, the Bible says that he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt. That speaks of lowliness. That speaks of humility. They condemned him after he was arrested. They crucified him. What did they do while he was hanging on the cross? They looked at him and they were moved, if you will, and scorned by his weakness. They were so appalled. They said, “If you are who you say you are, if you are the Son of God like you claim to be, come down off the cross. Show your strength. Show your power.” The Bible said the he wouldn’t say one word to defend himself. But when he comes again, he will not come on a donkey’s colt. When he comes again, he will not come in differing humility and meekness. He’s coming on a white charger with eyes like a flame of fire and a sharp two-edged sword will come out of his mouth and his power will be undeniable and his power will also – listen to me – be inescapable. Did you hear that? Inescapable. Men, the Bible says, will literally beg God to kill them but they won’t be able to die and they will have to face him and all of his power. Jesus is coming again. The incomparable, unrivaled Christ and when he comes as the word of God and the King of kings and Lord of lords, immediately and instantly and irrefutably, he will vindicate his person, his position and his power given to him by his heavenly Father. Oh, for the day to come when everything will be set aright on planet earth at the coming of Christ. By the way, you can be humbled now or be humbled later. You can be humbled now unto salvation or you will be humbled later unto condemnation. There are only two choices because he is coming again.

Not only that, not only is he coming to vindicate himself, he’s not coming alone. Did you notice that? There’s a great army on white horses with him. That speaks to me of the fact that he’s coming to validate his brethren. He’s coming to validate his brethren. Look if you will, at verses 14 and 19 again. The Scripture simply says, “And the armies which are in heaven,” that’s the raptured church and I believe the angelic band too probably, “clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.” In the last part of verse 19 says, “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.”

Now, what’s been the purpose of God through Jesus Christ from the beginning? I think you can wrap it up in this statement, the purpose of God through Jesus Christ is this: that Christ would say for himself a people that would reign with him and bring him glory forever. Did you get that? That Christ would save for himself. Now, notice that phrase, for himself. Not for yourself. That’s a glorious blessing for us, amen, to get in on it but we’re saved for him. Christ would save for himself a people that would reign with him and bring him glory for all eternity. In John 6:39 when Jesus was ministering on the earth during his first coming he said, “Of all that Father gives Me I lose nothing.” Did you hear that? Of all that the Father gives Jesus, all the elect of God, all the chosen of God, who will believe, those are the ones that the Father gives to Jesus and Jesus, “All those who are given to me, I lose nothing but will raise it up on the last day.” Well, my friend, this is the last day. That’s why we’re all there. That’s why we are accompanying him.

As a matter fact, turn over if you will to Revelation 6. Would you do that? Keep your finger in 19 and turn to Revelation 6. I only have one good thumb so if I can turn there you can, alright? Revelation 6:9-11, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain.” This is a figurative image that John is seeing and I think they are under the altar because that’s a picture of where Jesus died and his blood comes down on the altar and his blood has sanctified and made all of these righteous before God so all of these are those who are in Christ, in the realm of heaven. Then it says, “because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained.” So these are those who had been slain and martyred, primarily during the tribulation because they came to know Jesus Christ and would not deny him.

Verse 10, “And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” Powerful picture of those who were God’s elect who believed on Jesus Christ even in the awful season of the tribulation would not deny him and were martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ and in heaven – listen to me now – in heaven they cry out, “God, vindicate us! Validate that we did the right thing and we were on the right side and we honored the one true God. How long will you not bring vengeance against those on the earth who have done this awful thing to you and to us?”

Well, not very long because it’s only seven years of tribulation and here he comes. And riding with him are all of those on those white chargers. So Jesus comes from heaven and with him is the redeemed church that he has purchased with his own blood and he will resurrect all others who were saved of the remnant of Israel and during that tribulation season. And from time immemorial, the true church, the true brethren of Jesus Christ, have suffered. Satan opposes us, undermines us, works against us in every way he can. The world is against us. The world with its values and its purposes are radically the antithesis of what we value and what our purposes are. It leaves us left out and locked out and ridiculed and ignored and stained and lied about, if you will, over and over again. I mean, it’s just amazing how our world in just a few years and I will put primarily the blame at the office of the President who glories in wickedness and by natural attrition from that, those who stand for righteousness are sidelined and disdained and ridiculed. The world is just against us in every way.

If that were not enough, every generation of true believers has to deal with a counterfeit church. The antichrist spirit, the Bible says, is alive and well in every generation. It will come to its fruition at the end time in the antichrist but it’s alive and well today. The great harlot church is on earth today. Some of those congregations that are really of the great harlot church have the name Roman Catholic over them. Some of them that are really a part of the great harlot church have the name Episcopalian over them. Some of those that are in truth are really a part of the counterfeit harlot church have the name Assembly of God or Pentecostal over them. Some of those who in reality are part of the great harlot church have the name Methodist over them. And far too many of them that are in reality a part of the harlot, a counterfeit church, have the name Baptist over them. Satan is always working. The spirit of the antichrist is always working and if the world and Satan were not enough, you’re going to constantly be dragged down by many who profess to follow Christ, many who profess to know him. But it’s not genuine. It’s not true heart faith. No cross bearing in their religion. It’s all about self. It’s all about feeling better. It’s all about doing better in the world. It’s not about God and his glory.

So we have these enemies against us and they work to diminish us and they work to discredit us and they work to destroy true believers and the true church and they thought right before he came, they thought they succeeded. Listen to me: the enemies of God, those who call good evil and evil good, you know who I’m talking about, in our country, they think they are winning. As a matter of fact, they are convinced they are winning. Who would have ever dreamed of the day when those who glory in sodomite marriage would be more respected than those who believe in biblical marriage. They think they are winning. But Jesus is returning to validate his brethren. Jesus will return and there will be a mighty vindication and a mighty glorification and all of those trodden down by their enemies, the enemies of the church and the enemies of the Gospel and the enemies of Christ, will be greatly lifted up while all unbelievers are going to be humbled and condemned by the Lamb of God who has become the Lion of the tribe of Judah. I believe it very well may be true that every unbeliever on the earth that’s shirking and crying and hiding from the majesty and the glory and the power of Jesus Christ will look up there and they’ll see all of us on our white horses, there because of his grace. No righteousness of our own, his grace. And I believe every scoffing, rejecting, denying, hypocritical unbeliever will see some believer they at least ignored, disdained and scorned because they were a believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus will come. He doesn’t have to come with all of us but he’s coming to tell earth, “These are the true ones. You’re of the false one and your day is over.”

The Bible says in verse 14, “And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.” Now, this is very interesting. There is an assembly of forces on the earth to battle against the forces of Christ and his heavenly army. Why would these do such an unwise and wicked thing? Why would the commanders and the armies on the earth come together to fight Christ? Well, the Bible clearly tells us in Revelation 16 that demons go out and seduce them into this military effort. But notice while the whole kingdom of Satan will be arrayed against the whole kingdom of God and this is going to be antichrist versus Christ, it’s going to be demons versus angels and demon-possessed men versus Holy Spirit indwelt men. Jude wrote of this very thing in Jude 14-16. I’ll not go there for time. These leaders and these rulers will assemble to fight Christ because they are deluded by Satan and by demons and they believe they can settle all accounts with heaven once and for all. Listen to me friend: why do you think we’re passing all these rules and all these laws and all these statutes and executive orders to promote what the Bible calls wickedness? That’s just saying, “We’re throwing that stuff off. We’re throwing your bondage off. We’re throwing your religion off. We’re throwing those teachings of Scripture off. That’s antiquated. We’re throwing that off.” And one final time, they are going to say, “We’re getting all of our strength together and we’re getting rid of this once and for all.”

So Jesus appears. He’s got an army with him. The Bible says they are “clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” That’s unusual battle clothing. Have you ever seen an army come out in fine linen, white and clean? I mean, military personnel are put in fatigues that are usually dark colored. They are colored like the landscape, first of all because you’re going to get dirty and secondly you’re not there for a show. You are there to accomplish something and win a war. No army has ever gone into battle with white linen but this army is different. This army is not going to do any battle. They are not going to lift one finger. The battle will be fought and won by their Lord. We must also remember that the reason why they are clothed in fine linen, white and clean, this is against the backdrop of the harlot church. The harlot church were those who turned the truth of God into promiscuity and they lived in sin and in immorality. The harlot church was a vile, dirty, filthy church. Vile, dirty, filthy and black. But Christ’s church is in fine linen, white and clean.

They are clothed therefore in the righteousness and the holiness of their Lord and King. They have now become partakers of his nature in his grace. The Bible says that they follow him on white horses, wherever he leads, his servants follow. If he leads to war, we follow to war and this is the one – listen to me – this is the one and only true holy war. Now, Islamic extremists and by the way they are not just terrorists and they’re not just extremists, they are Islamic extremists and terrorists. They have for generation after generation been calling for one holy war after another and they haven’t fought one true holy war yet. Do you know why? To wage a holy war, you have to be holy and there is only one who is inherently holy and that one is Christ. We become holy through his redeeming grace and that’s why we will accompany him in his holy cause. At the set time in the coming future, we will exit heaven on white horses following a Christ for a holy war against sinners.

So he will vindicate his brethren. These are the true ones of God. He will vindicate himself, he will validate his brethren and thirdly he’s going to vanquish his enemies. He’s going to vanquish his enemies. Notice if you will what he says in verse 15. The Bible says, “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.” Now the armies of this world amass great stores of military might and these are weapons formed by the mind and the hand of man. Each nation either produces their own military might or they purchase it from others. But another unique aspect of this King and his artillery is that his artillery is not the production of man’s mind or the production of man’s hand. He uses not a weapon purchased from others. The destroying weapon of this King is the word that he speaks. He needs no physical might for his power is far above the physical realm. He has moral and spiritual power. In fact, he’s omnipotent; that means he has all power. This is not something he developed over time, it’s inherent. It’s who he is. When he returns, the armies of heaven and the armies of earth are aligned against him and he will unleash the power of God against them in one spoken word. Look at verse 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.”

At this point, he appears in the sky with his holy army clothed in white linen and all true believers aligned with him. But there are some other believers here too. You see, every single person will believe on this day. Did you know that? Everyone will believe. It will be too late to believe unto salvation. It will be too late to believe unto the forgiveness of sins. They will believe that he’s the true one but they’ll not believe on him as Savior and Lord. So this great mass of earth’s military might will be assembled to fight against Christ and he will cast his eyes upon them and speak, “Drop dead.” And they will all obey. Every single one will die. He will vanquish his enemies. Before the hoof of his white charger touches the surface of earth, he will utter that word and the enemies of God will all be gone.

The Bible says he will also rule with a rod of iron. This is the second powerful figure. It’s a figure of rule and authority. The rod of iron means the unyielding, unthwartable rule of Christ. This is not a shepherd’s staff to guide and correct sheep. When he establishes the millennial kingdom, he will guide them with a shepherd’s staff. That’s a little bit later. No, this is a rod of iron, the crushing rod of iron. He comes not to guide with loving discipline, he comes to execute with a rod of iron.

Then we have that third powerful figure in verse 15, the last part, “and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.” Now, wine press is a great vat and it is filled with ripened grapes and when the vat would become full, a selected person usually a special person that had to have clean feet, would be invited, it was an honor to step into the wine press and trample the ripened grapes. Then the juice would flow out into a container. What imagery. Christ is selected to tread the vat of God’s wrath. The grapes of wrath had been ripening for ages against the rebellion and the sin of man and it is all time for the harvest. The clusters have swollen to the point of bursting. The outer skin is cracked. The inner membrane is bulging. Now the special one is selected. The only one with clean feet. The holy and righteous one. He will take those holy feet still bearing the scars of crucifixion and he will tread the wine press and the grapes of wrath will burst and the wine of divine wrath will flow. These are not just any grapes. This is not just any juice. This is as the text says, the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. And everyone is dead. Gone.

But the birds are going to have a big time. Look at verse 17, if you will. “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.'” Isn’t that interesting? Everybody is going to come to God’s meal. You’re either going to the marriage supper of the Lamb or you’ll be served up at the great supper of God. One of the two. The marriage supper of the Lamb or the great supper of God. The birds are summoned, they are hovering around. Jesus hadn’t yet spoken the word and the omens are dreadful. Moment by moment, the sky will grow darker with these birds of prey: every vulture, every buzzard, every raven, every eagle will obey God’s summons. They are invited to the supper of God and they are the guests. Satan’s armies are doomed and the fierce fowl know it and they come to bury the dead in the name of the living God. You know, during World War I the total war related dead was estimated to be 40 million. During World War II, the total war related dead was estimated to be 60 million. But the slaughter on this day will vastly surpass both of those put together. Verse 21, “all the birds were were filled with their flesh.”

Now listen friend: this is the end of the time of the Gentiles. The time of the Gentiles will have come to its end. Now all government will be at length settled and centered in the Prince of the King of the earth and the King of kings and in the Lord of lords. Isn’t it interesting, the enemies of God throughout the years have fervently and faithfully diminished, discredited and tried to destroy the nation of Israel and the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. From time immemorial because God said, “I have a special role for Israel,” and God said, “I have a special bride, my church,” and the world and Satan and the counterfeit church and the antichrist have hated both. But here at the end, he brings his glorified bride to reign with him and he’s going to have a remnant of Israel saved and he’s going to rule with them 1,000 years on the earth and there’s not anything anyone can do about it. As the prophet said, “And he shall reign for ever and ever and ever.” Let’s stand together.