So I read it earlier, if you haven't turned there already, I invite you to turn there now. Revelation chapter 19, beginning in verse 11, will be our text for this morning as we consider together the beautiful, glorious, second coming, the return of our King, the return of Christ. Before we go to the Word together, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we now, as we always do, ask for Your help in this moment. We ask that You would speak to our hearts and speak to our minds as we seek to understand You, understand the glory of God, the glory of Your Son better through Your Word, lest You would nourish our souls in the pure milk, the Word of God. Sanctify us now in the truth of Your Word. Remind us of the wonderful glory that is prepared for us in heaven, that we would consider the suffering of this present time not worth comparing to the glory. that will be revealed to us. All this we ask in Jesus' blessed and holy name. Amen. It's a new vision. A new Sunday and a new vision that John now records for us here in his book, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Remember that Jesus is the primary focus of the book of Revelation. Even in the previous chapters with all of the graphic details about the final judgment, about all the graphic details about the fall of Babylon, all of the details about the beasts that arise and all of the things that happen on the earth, even through all of those things, the main point that bound all of that together was that Jesus, throughout the course of these events, is the One unrolling the scroll and breaking the seal and unleashing the judgments. in the flow of the text, we have moved beyond that final judgment of Babylon. We see the heavenly response last week in the final judgment of Babylon, the massive celebration in heaven. Heaven rejoices, the marriage supper of the Lamb is prepared, the bride is presented, the friends of the bridegroom have been invited to come in and dine with them. We've come now to the rapid-paced, by the way, conclusion of this wonderful revelation of Christ. John will begin now to see visions that come in a rapid succession that move forward very quickly now toward eternity. And what he sees now is the glorious return of Christ. Scripture everywhere speaks of the return of Christ. It speaks of it prophetically, even from the words of Christ Himself. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and glory." Matthew 24, 30. And then in 25, 31, he says the same thing, when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. The nations will be gathered and He will separate people one from another, the judgment. that will come, the sheep and the goat judgment. This is where he goes on to say, you know, I was hungry and you fed me and I was thirsty and you gave me drink and so forth in Matthew 25. So it speaks of the second coming of Christ, Scripture does, prophetically. It also speaks of the second coming of Christ as a promise. You can take the prophecies that way, but Jesus also He talks about His second coming in the form of a promise, for example, to His disciples. He says in John 14, 3, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself that where I am you will be also. This is a promise. It's not just prophecy that I'm coming. It's a promise. I am coming. Way back in Revelation 3 to the church in Philadelphia, He had promised them, I am coming soon. So hold fast to what you have so that no one may seize your crown. He speaks of it in prophecy, speaks of it in promise. He speaks of it, the scripture does, it speaks of it as the focus of our anticipation of heaven. Paul, in talking about himself, says that there is a crown laid up for me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing, 2 Timothy 4.8. James tells us to be patient until the coming of the Lord, how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Wait for it. That's James 5, 7, and 8. Peter talks about it, preparing your mind for action, being sober minded. This is where we'll be tonight. Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Christ. Paul talks about it. James talks about it. Peter talks about it. This constant anticipatory angle and focus of the second coming of Christ. It also speaks of the second coming of Christ as His final victory over Satan, over the nations, over the demons, and we get into that in the chapters that are coming up, which begin for us here with the rider and the white horse. Scripture has much to say about this glorious moment, much to say from a variety of vantage points as we consider the glory of the return of Christ. And so as we look at it here, this final return of Christ given to us through prophecy, as John sees it in a vision, in what his eyes behold, his words can hardly tell. So let's get into it together. The first thing that we see as John unfolds this revelation for us is the majesty of Christ. The majesty of Christ. I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse. So I think it's at least in some perhaps sort of contrast to the four horsemen that came out in the opening, in the breaking of the first four seals. This is the same brilliant white that this horse has that's described of Jesus Himself. Back in chapter 1, verse 14, the hairs of His head were white like white wool, like snow, and His eyes were like a flame of fire. It symbolizes His purity and His holiness and His truthfulness of the rider. which is exactly what's described next. The one, the rider, sitting on it, the horse, is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. Not only is Christ faithful and true, but He is so full of faithfulness and so full of truth that He is even called them. You can call Him that even as if it were His name. He is faithful and therefore He is called faithful. He is truth and therefore He is called true. In Revelation 3.14 of the church in Laodicea, He describes Himself as the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation, the foremost, the preeminent one, the exalted one, the number one. Notice, by the way, the testimony to the divinity and the deity of Christ. This is exactly the way that God was described. isn't it, in the previous passage that we looked at last week. His judgments, verse 2, are true and just. Speaking of the one to whom salvation and glory and power belong, our God, whose judgments are true and just. And here, the same thing is applied to Christ as well. He is faithful and He is true and He is just. Notice also the stark contrast as it pertains glorious return of Christ when you compare it to the humiliation at His first coming. It's almost Christmas season. Christmas season, we celebrate the first coming of Christ, His humiliation, His incarnation, His coming in the form of a man, in the form of a servant, in order to bear the sins of many. At His humiliation, He was born in a stall, and He was placed in a manger. He was born without much fanfare, without angels shouting and trumpets blowing. Sure, they showed up to some shepherds out in the field, but they were hardly the ones that you would announce the birth of a king to. He arrived in lowliness. He arrived in poverty. He arrived in a lowly estate. and was placed in a manger. But now in Revelation 19, we see Him in His exaltation. We see Him coming on the clouds. We see Him coming in glory and majesty. We see Him coming, ruling and reigning with His eyes like fire and with His sword that proceeds from His mouth. At His humiliation, He entered the city of Jerusalem, the city of David, the city of the God of Israel on a donkey, you'll remember. of the triumphal entry. At His exaltation, He enters riding on a white horse, the horse of power, the horse of rule, and the horse of victory that the Roman generals would parade themselves in front of the cities on as they would celebrate their victories on the battlefield. This is the horse that our exalted Christ now rides in on as He comes in on the clouds. There's another contrast. Remember John, back in John chapter 1 verse 14, said that the Word had become flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of what? Grace and truth. That was the purpose of His first coming, to come full of grace and truth, to come to save sinners, to seek and to save the lost. Now, at the end of all things, He will return. He will return in glory. He will return in power. He will return as a conquering king. And He will return, not full of grace and truth, but full of judgment over His enemies to lay claim to His rightful throne, to lay claim to the throne that had attempted to be usurped by Satan and his antichrist and his false prophet. But now He will vanquish all of His enemies and cast them into the lake of fire. And He will establish His kingdom forever. He will purify the world. Which leads into the next part. His eyes, verse 12, are like a flame of fire. Same thing said back in chapter 1 verse 14 that I read a moment ago, His eyes were like a flame of fire. Fire that purifies evil and unrighteousness and unholiness and ungodliness. And back when we looked at chapter 1 verse 14, we also said that these piercing eyes like a flame of fire represented the piercing, all-seeing, omniscient gaze of Christ as the Lord of the church. Remember, that led directly into the letters that he writes to the churches, and his right judgment that he makes of all of those churches. Listen to this description of these eyes in the MacArthur Commentary. Those eyes had reflected tenderness and joy as he gathered little children to himself. They had reflected compassion when he observed distressed and dispirited people wandering aimlessly through life. like sheep without a shepherd, they had reflected forgiveness when He restored Peter, who had been crushed by guilt over his shocking denial of his Master, the eyes that wept over the fate of unrepentant Jerusalem, and over the sorrow, suffering, and death in this sin-cursed world. John now sees them flashing with the fire of judgment. contrast the way that Christ will return in all His glory and all His beauty and in all His splendor, ready for judging of the nations. We see also His crowns, on His head, verse 12, are many diadems. This is not the Stephanos, the victor's crown that we've seen Him wear before. Instead, this is the crown of a sovereign ruler. This is the crown of a king. Notice there are many diadems, by the way. And why are there many? We were just saying that, didn't we? Crown Him with how many? Many crowns this Lamb upon the throne. Why do we give Him many crowns? Well, the answer is, You know, this was the custom in ancient times, right? You had a king, conquered another king, you took over that king's kingdom, and one of the things that you did was you took his crown. You put it upon yourself as a symbolic way of declaring your victory over another and assimilating His kingdom into your own. It denotes the unifying of all earthly rule and power under the headship of Christ and Christ alone as the name that is given to Him later in this passage as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. While now there are many kings many rulers and many dictators and presidents and so forth and so on, when Christ returns to establish His Kingdom, all of those seats of power, all of those crowns of rule will be placed on His one head for Him to bear alone and to reign over the whole earth with a rod of iron, as it says later. He has a name written. that no one knows but Himself into verse 12. You say, what's this mean? He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. What does this mean? Well, it means what it says. We don't know what the name is. Apparently John saw this name and so indescribable was the majesty and beauty and glory and splendor of this name that John couldn't describe it. John couldn't tell it. John couldn't record it. I don't know what to say about this name. that Jesus has been given. Some commentators even make the connection that perhaps this name marks His absolute deity and divinity as the Second Person of the Trinity. It's a pointer to the fact that the One who is now coming on the clouds as the Messiah is God Himself, the Second Person of the Trinity. This name, by the way, is not the same name is given later in verse 13, the Word of God. Why would He say that no one knows the name and then give the name? We see a succession of different names given to Jesus here, faithful and true, unknown, if you want to call it that, Word of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, each of them denoting different things about Him, which is why commentators connect this unknown name to perhaps a testimony to His divinity that cannot be described. But either way, we don't know what it is. There's no sense in speculating. It is simply a name that is unique and therefore sets Him apart from all others as He bears it alone. He is clothed, verse 13, in a robe dipped in blood. Now whose blood is this? It's perhaps easy to jump immediately to his own blood, the blood of his redemption. But that is not what is in mind here as John sees this robe dipped in blood. The blood that covers his robe here is the blood of his enemies that he will trample in judgment. We see that he is about to trample his enemies, he's about to trample the winepress, the wrath of God, and the blood will flow to such an extent that it will even get on his garments. You say, well, if that's the case, then why is his robe already bloodied if he hasn't yet trampled the winepress of God's wrath? And the answer is, he enters not as a king who has not fought battles before, he enters as a king who is a conquering He has fought for his people throughout all of the history of the people of God, and especially, obviously, the history of the church. He has interceded for us, if you will. He has fought his enemies throughout history, and here is only the final battle as he brings it all to a final consummation. Isaiah 63 mentions this graphically. detailed bloodying of the garments with the blood of His enemies, Isaiah 63 verse 1. Who is this who comes from Edom in crimson garments from Basra? He who is splendid in His apparel, marching in His greatness and in His strength and His eye, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. Why is your apparel red and your garments like His who treads in the winepress? And the answer, I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me. I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath. Therefore, their blood splattered on my garments and stained my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help. I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold. And so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me. I trampled down the people in my anger. I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth." Graphic, isn't it? What will happen when Jesus comes in glory? as He vanquishes His foes on behalf of His people. His robe is dipped in blood. The name by which He is called is the Word of God. He is first identified by John himself, isn't He? As the Word made flesh in John chapter 1. He also identifies Him that way by illusion, if you will, in 1 John chapter 1 verse 1. Here this designation is given to the rider that is on the white horse, meaning that the rider can be none other than Christ Himself, the one and only Son of God. He is presented here in glory, in power, in honor, in dignity, and in majesty as the Second Person of the Trinity, the Divine Son of God. And so as we are introduced to the rider on the white horse, We see the majesty of Christ. Beginning in verse 14 now, I want you to see the sovereignty of Christ. The sovereignty of Christ. John sees Jesus coming down from heaven and all of that glory and majesty, but notice that He doesn't come alone. The armies, verse 14, of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. The armies of heaven. the clothing that they're wearing, the fine linen, white and pure, helps to identify this army as believers. This army that accompanies Christ as believers from all the ages. It is the bride of Christ mentioned in the previous passage that we studied who are specifically identified as clothing themselves in fine linen garments. It also involves the tribulation saints who are identified this way as well in Revelation 7, verse 9. It also includes the Old Testament saints as well who are promised to be raised to life in Daniel chapter 12, which prophesies that at the conclusion of the tribulation, it says, those who sleep in the dust will awaken some to eternal life and others to judgment. Not only the believers from all ages are accompanying Christ, the angels of heaven themselves will accompany Christ as well in this I just read Matthew 25-31 a moment ago. The angels will appear with Him as He comes on the clouds in glory. What's amazing here is that all that is mentioned about this army is that they're wearing fine linen garments. It calls them an army! And all they're wearing is fine linen. garments. From an earthly perspective, that's not much of an army. Think about it. Armies and warriors and soldiers wear armor. They wear shields and they carry swords and bows and axes. They come for battle dressed for battle. You don't come to battle in your underwear. Why is this army that follows Christ, seemingly so ill-prepared for battle. Verse 15 tells us, there's only one weapon necessary for this army that follows Christ. From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. This grand army of believers throughout all the history of human history and all of the angels that did not follow Satan in his rebellion. This vast army, the myriads and myriads of angels and the myriads and myriads of believers who follow Christ and probably spread out as far as the eye can see for all of the people and all of the hands and all of the feet in this army. There is only one weapon required. and it is the one that Christ Himself wields. He will be the one to vanquish His enemies. We just read that in Isaiah 63, right? I and I alone will tread the winepress of the wrath of God. His armies follow Him in battle, not to wage war with Him, but instead to reign with Him after He has conquered His enemies Himself. He wields the sword from His mouth. signifies that His judgment will come through His Word. Before His words were words of comfort, peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life. In His incarnation, His words were full of grace, full of truth, full of mercy, full of love, full of forbearance. And now, in the end, that word has come to an end and He will wield the fiery words of judgment against His enemies. He will speak and they will be defeated. The same voice that spoke the world and the heavens into existence will be the same voice that speaks a word and all His enemies will fall at His feet. We're told He will rule them as He strikes them down with a rod of iron. It's alluding to what we'll get into in the next chapters, the thousand year reign that He sets out now to establish. By the way, we were prepared last week for the marriage supper of the Lamb. You know how long that lasts? The whole thousand years? We're Baptists, we can eat that long. He establishes this kingdom, this judgment, returns to the imagery now of the winepress. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. This is exactly how we were introduced to the bold judgments, wasn't it? Way back in chapter 14, another angel came. who has authority over the fire, and said, put in your sickle, gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for the grapes are ripe. And that angel swung the sickle, and the winepress, they were all put into the great winepress of God's wrath, and the winepress was trodden, and the blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle, so high that it will stain the garments that Christ now wears. let the nations stir themselves up and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations, put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe, go in, tread for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, their evil is great, multitudes and multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision prophesied in Joel 3. The prophecy now comes to pass. On his robe, verse 16, and on His thigh He has a name written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, a third name now, the unknown name, the fourth name, excuse me, the faithful and true, followed by the unknown name, perhaps signifying His divinity, followed by His very nature as the revelation of God, of Himself, according to Hebrews chapter 1, He is the exact imprint of His nature, denoted in the Word of God, And here now, we see a name that has to do with His sovereignty and His rule over all the nations. He is called the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Whatever king you can find to drum up now, Jesus is the King of that King. And whatever Lord you can find and trumpet out before Christ, He is the Lord of that Lord. Christ returns. and His sovereignty riding on His white horse. He had said that no one knows the hour except the Father. Now the hour has come. He's followed by the armies of heaven riding in victory formation with His sword that He will use to vanquish His enemies. Which leads to our final point. We have seen His majesty. We have seen His sovereignty. And now we see His victory. John sees now something new in this vision. He's been describing the majesty and the glory of the returning Christ. Now he sees another angel in these visions. I saw an angel standing in the sun. perhaps blocking the sun. Most notably, this angel is apparently standing in the most prominent part in the sky. He's standing where all can see. He's standing in the spot where all of the world can see and therefore all of the world can hear what it is the angel will now say with his loud voice, just like all of the other angels have been described before. He calls out to the birds that fly overhead, and gather for the great supper of God." Notice the prophetic nature of this announcement. He's announcing Christ's victory before the victory even takes place. He's preparing the birds for dinner. Remember where we are in the chronology. Back in chapter 16, we saw the bowls of the wrath of God poured out. And in the sixth bowl, what happened? The Euphrates was dried up. to prepare the way for the kings from the east, coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, their demonic spirits performing signs. They go abroad to the kings of the whole world and assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. And then Christ comes. That's the chronology here. The armies have been assembled to make war against the Lamb. Chapter 19 happens. We mentioned before, 17 and 18 sort of take the detailed view of what's going on. Babylon is falling. Chapter 19 happens immediately after those events, immediately after the bowls have been finished being poured out. This angel cries out to the birds, As Christ comes down from heaven to meet His enemies on the battlefield, get ready to feast on the flesh of His enemies. It's a very graphic depiction, isn't it? Gather for what? The supper of God? To eat the flesh of kings? and captains and mighty men, horses and riders, all men, free and slaves, small and great." Notice the complete judgment that's about to take place. The worldwide judgment that's about to take place. The world-encompassing judgment that's about to happen. Joseph Sice, who wrote a work called The Apocalypse, said this about this particular passage, this tells already An awful story. It tells of the greatest of men made food for the vultures. Of kings and leaders strong and confident, devoured on the field with no one to bury them. Of those who thought to conquer heaven's anointed king, rendered helpless, even against the timid birds. Of vaunting gods of nature, turned into its cast off and most dishonored dregs. And what is thus fore-intimated soon becomes reality. Later on, he goes on to say, the sky is rent and folds upon itself like a collapsed tent. It is the day for executing an armed world, a world in covenant with hell, to overthrow the authority and throne of God. And everything in terrified nature joins to signalize the deserved vengeance. So the Scripture everywhere represents John saw it and does not describe it. He only tells the result he beheld. He speaks of it. What he's saying is he talks about it in the symbolic language of the wine press of God's wrath, and then he says, and then the birds were feeding on the flesh of the kings. With this anticipatory declaration to the birds to prepare for dinner, the moment now comes. I saw the beast, verse 19, and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who is sitting on the throne and against his army. I saw them. They're ready. They're gathered. They're ready to make war. They're ready to make war against the one who sits on the throne. They're ready to war against his army. And notice how quickly the battle is over. It's over before it even begins. With all this anticipation, with all this build-up, with all their marching, with the, from their perspective perhaps, the love that the Euphrates has dried up and we have clear passage to Armageddon, with the amassing of the vast armies of the earth and the ten rulers who rule under the headship of the Antichrist, with all of their hatred, with all of their power and with all of the fanfare, with everything that they have done to make war against Christ, there is no battle. There is no struggle. There isn't even a whimper of conflict. Immediately in verse 20, the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had done these signs, and they were thrown alive into the lake of fire. There's no battle. There's no struggle. There's no conflict. Christ speaks, and they are bound, and they are cast into the lake of fire. This is the final form of hell, by the way. Just for some precision in language, you understand that unbelievers currently now don't go to the lake of fire described here. They go to a place called Hades. It is a place of punishment. It is a place of torment. It is a place of God's wrath where His wrath rests on all who die in their sins. But it is not the lake of fire in its final form presented here. Hell in that sense is reserved for the final judgment that will take place at the final second coming of Christ. They will be sent there, all unbelievers, with the beast and the false prophet. Verse 21, 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. Gorged with it. This is a massacre. And it's a massacre that happens like that. At a single word, his enemies fall at his feet. And what's the language? They're made footstools for his feet. John Phillips said this in exploring Revelation, suddenly it will all be over. In fact, there will be no war at all in the sense that we think of war. There will be just a word spoken from Him who sits astride the great white horse. Once He spoke a word to a fig tree and it withered. Once He spoke a word to howling winds and heaving waves and the storm clouds vanished. The waves fell silent. Once he spoke to a legion of demons bursting at the seams of a poor man's soul, and instantly they fled. Now he speaks a word and the war is over. The blasphemous, loud-mouthed beast is stricken where he stands. The false prophet, the miracle-working windbag from the pit is punctured and still. The pair of them are bundled up and hurled headlong into the everlasting flames. Another word, and the panic-stricken armies reel and stagger and fall down dead. Field marshals and generals, admirals and air commanders, soldiers and sailors, rank and file, one and all, they fall, and the vultures descend and end the scene. This is our Christ. He is our Christ. He is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. And for us who believe, He is our Great High Priest who intercedes for us. And for all who believe, He is the One who will one day come and bring His enemies to justice. It is a reminder of where our world is heading. The collision course with God for all of their running from God. The collision course with God that all unbelievers will face. It is a reminder of the urgency of our task as the church. The great commission to go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And it is a reminder that all unbelievers, everyone in our own sphere of life, who do not know Christ, are storing up for themselves wrath for the day of judgment. This is our Christ that we worship, our Savior and our King. Let's pray. So Father, we do worship. We do pray that as we consider the glory of our Christ, the glory of our King, our Sovereign Lord, that we would remember what He has saved us from through His blood and through the cross. We think of it when we take the Lord's Supper together. We do this in remembrance of Christ. May we remember as we go about our day-to-day lives that Jesus will, in His own time and your own time, make all things right. May we rest in His glory and in His future vengeance. We ask in His name, Amen.