Revelation 19 and we are continuing in section 11-16, considering more truths and details about the advent or second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'll read 11-16 and then I'll just mention what we covered last week and go forward from there. Let's pray before we begin. Father, we thank you for this day. Lord, we're grateful that you give us one day in seven to come apart from our normal activities and duties and responsibilities so that we can gather with your people in the place you provide for us to worship you in spirit and truth. We do want to pray this morning for churches and pastors throughout the country and around the world. that are working through this difficult time about trying to resume meeting with their congregations or not doing that if they're prohibited, whatever the case may be. Father, we are mindful that there are many struggling right now. There are many views and opinions of your people. on the situation we find ourselves in. So we just ask that mercy and grace would reign supremely in each and every faithful congregation. Give each pastor, elder, all leadership everywhere wisdom. Lord, guide them by your Spirit. We're thankful that we can be together this morning, and we don't take it for granted at all. And Lord, if nothing else, you've made us aware of that over these recent weeks, that we should never take for granted the joy and privilege of gathering together. So, Lord, we pray that you'd speak to us now and teach us and guide us through your Word. Reveal your truth to us concerning Jesus and His return. Lord, may it incite us and motivate us to be like John, and each and every day, At some point, if we don't pray it, we at least think it. Even so, come Lord Jesus. We pray these things in His name. Amen. Alright, 1911. And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We ask God to bless the Word to us today. What we've seen so far under the advent of Christ, and I gave you three main points last week. We covered part of the first one. But they are, first of all, in verse 11, we see His faithfulness. He's called faithful and true. Then in verse 15, we see His fierceness, the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And then in verse 16, His fullness as being King of kings and Lord of lords. Now we looked last week at the victory, first of all, that he gains, talked about what the white horse signifies, and also that is a shared victory with the saints when Christ returns, because verse 14 tells us that the armies in heaven also ride white horses. And again, whether we want to materialize that or take it symbolically, the end result is the same. It is a signifying of absolute victory, of conquest. when Jesus is pictured as riding a white horse and the armies of heaven following Him in the same way. So that's what we saw there. Then we looked at His vision, His perceptive eyesight and what that is described as in verse 12, as a flame of fire. Of course, that's also given to us in chapter 1, verses 13 through 16, basic same description with a little more detail there, as John first sees Christ, as his vision of revelation begins to be given to him. It just reminds us that, as the Old Testament says, the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth, keeping watch over the evil and the good. and that the Lord sees the hearts of men. Remember that the Lord told Samuel when he was trying to find out who's going to be the king of Israel, and he's looking at all at Jesse's sons, and then David is the least likely choice, but the Lord tells him, said, I don't see as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks what? On the heart. And so God's searching gaze, particularly Jesus', is highlighted here, His vision. Now today, picking up with a little bit further material and coverage, we see His vesture. In verse 13, he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. By the way, there are four names given to Jesus in this section. I don't know that I pointed that out. You can see it clearly. Verse 1 is faithful and true. The second one is the unknown name in verse 12. Third is the Word of God here in verse 13. And fourth is in verse 16, of course. His title is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But what about his vesture, his clothing? It is dipped in blood. Now, we're going to go to a passage in the Old Testament. In fact, you can go ahead and be turning there, Isaiah chapter 63. There has been somewhat of a divide in view and opinion of Christians and commentators down through the ages as to why Jesus' robe is pictured here as being dipped in blood. There are those who say that is a signifying of his atonement, of his suffering, of his shedding of his blood. And certainly we wouldn't argue that point, that that's always an ever-present reminder that Jesus indeed suffered unto death. We saw that back in chapter 5, didn't we? Where John sees, he's told that the line of the tribe of Judah has prevailed, but he says, when I turned, I saw not a lion but a lamb. And paraphrasing, John said, and on the lamb were the wounds which once had caused his death. So certainly the wounds of Christ are still visible. But I believe in Isaiah 63 we have a clearer interpretation of what we have here in chapter 19 of Revelation. Look at chapter 63 of Isaiah, verse 1. The prophet is asking the question. He says, who is this that comes from Edom with dyed garments? Now, literally that means crimson garments. Dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. So the prophet is asking, who is this I'm looking at? And the personage responds, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. That brings another question to the prophet, verse 2. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treads in the wine fat? And the answer from the person that he is viewing. I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and this is God the Father speaking, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm Jesus brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. And then Christ speaks again, I will tread down the people in mine anger and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth. It's a very clear passage talking about the judgment that Christ exacts and brings when He returns a second time. Obviously, this is not talking about the first coming of the Lord, right? He did not come in vengeance. He did not come to destroy the wicked. As He said, the Son of Man has come not to destroy men's lives, but what? To save them. in His first coming, but not so in His second. And we've already been seeing that, of course, many times over in our study of Revelation. One thing before we leave here though, there's always, usually always, in passages of judgment, there will be an accompanying reference to God's grace and mercy, usually. More often than not, I'll put it that way. And notice after it talks about Christ pouring out His wrath and crushing His enemies under His feet so that their blood stains His raiment, verse 7 says, I will mention what? The loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us. and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, the church, which He hath bestowed on them according to His mercies and according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses." So, right on the heels of Isaiah seeing this vision, And asking, who is this? And the answer comes back and makes it clear. This is God coming in judgment in Christ. Yet he says, but I'm going to talk about the loving kindness of the Lord. I'm going to mention His goodness to us as His people. His mercies that are poured out upon us. I think that in itself, and there are other references we could go to if time would allow us, but I think that in itself is a clear marker and interpretation of what we see in Revelation 19 as far as the vesture that Jesus wears. It is not to be understood primarily as his own blood, but rather the blood of his enemies. The fact that it is said in verse 13 to have been dipped in blood gives further confirmation of that. And of course we have seen that already in previous chapters. In chapter, let's see, 14. Yes. Chapter 14, verse 19, "...the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horses' bridles, by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs, or approximately two hundred miles." So, we're seeing the same thing going on here. And his robe is dipped in blood because of what we're about to read down in verse 15. So, we see his vesture. Now, second main point, after his faithfulness in verse 15, we see his fierceness. Again, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. First of all, back to Isaiah's prophecy, chapter 11, which is a very clear messianic passage. So many of them are in the book of Isaiah. As I've said before, and many have said this, we could subtitle the book of Isaiah in our Bibles, The Gospel According to Isaiah. It certainly is that. In Isaiah 11, in verse 4, it talks about the servant of the Lord, the stem of Jesse, the branch that will come forth, the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him. And then it says in verse 4, But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, and here it comes, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. So we see Jesus coming to crush his enemies and also out of his mouth goes forth this sharp sword. Now, I've mentioned this already a couple of times, but this is another one of those places where, and we have to be careful, those who say, well, we ought to take everything in Revelation literally, like we do pretty much the rest of the Bible. Well, of course, first of all, there's many things in the Old Testament that we can't take materially, literally, or they don't make any sense. Again, remember the rule of thumb is if the plain sense makes sense, look for no other sense or you'll wind up with nonsense. But if the plain sense doesn't make sense, that is, if it sounds like something that is symbolic, it probably is. So if the plain sense doesn't make sense, look for the application or the hidden sense. If not, then in that way you will wind up with nonsense. So, it doesn't make sense, does it, that when Jesus comes, his main way of dealing with his enemy is to have a metal, two-edged sword spit out of his mouth. Now, some of you say, well, God could do that. Well, sure, God could do that. But let's think about it. That doesn't really make sense, especially when we have other references that call the Word of God the sword, right? Now, we get a little preview of this in the garden when Jesus is about to be arrested. John records it in his gospel. Do you remember? This band of soldiers come and it's dark and they've got their torches and Judas says, I'll spot him for you because many of you don't know what he looks like and I'll kiss him on the cheek and you'll know which one to get. And so they come with this great band in the darkness of the garden and Jesus says, Whom seek ye? And they say, Jesus of Nazareth. And the scripture says, he simply said, I am. And it says, all those navy seal and army ranger, centurions and soldiers, drew back and fell to the ground when he simply said, I am. So the power of Christ's voice is not in dispute. And the fact that he could lay low a bunch of highly trained and highly equipped Roman soldiers by simply saying two words gives us no problem believing that what it means here is not that he spits a sword out materially, but that his word is enough to destroy his enemies. The power of Christ's spoken word. After all, the spoken word of the Lord brought everything into existence that we see, right? That's power. There's creative power in the Lord's voice. We see that in Genesis chapter 1. There's redemptive power in the Lord's voice. We see that throughout the Bible. As He declares, He will save His people. As He declares, the Messiah will come and die for them. And His declaration gives the actual manifestation of those things. So, His spoken word creates, His spoken word redeems, and His spoken word judges and destroys. It does all three. And that's what we see here. And that is then the fierceness of the Lord that is on display here. He speaks and he smites. Now, also another reference just in passing that makes it very clear about what this sword is, is of course a well-known passage to most of us, Ephesians 6, the passage on the armor of the Christian. And remember it says, take the sword of the Spirit, which is what? The Word of God. So, you see, this sword that Christ speaks, we possess that sword too, in the Bible. Now, we don't have the power to destroy by our spoken word, I'm not even hinting at that. My point is, is that the powerful word of God belongs to the Christian. And that's why, by the way, in Jesus' temptation, He underscores the truth of the power that the Scripture has for us when we are tempted by the way He responds to Satan when Satan tempts Him, right? After every temptation, well, even after the very first one, Jesus could have said, Die, Satan. Be destroyed. And He would have vaporized on the moment. But what does He say? It is written. It is written. It is written. And after those three times of throwing everything he could at Jesus and Jesus simply quoting scripture, it says the devil left him until a more opportune time. So Jesus is teaching us that the youngest, weakest, newest believer in Christ, as well as the oldest and most steeped in the faith, has the same power given to them to withstand the enemy that Jesus himself used in his temptation. The Scripture. The Word of God. It's a guarantee, folks, that if you will use the Bible and have yourself full of it, it's not that Satan won't still try to come against you and his host. They will. They won't get very far. They won't have very much mileage to make with you if you are steeped in the Word of God and you make use of it. And again, that's another point about which I've said before, but let me repeat here. When Paul talks about the sword of the Spirit, in Ephesians 6. He is not talking about what we would consider a broad sword. Something that's about as long as you are tall and is double edged and it takes both hands to swing it and use it. Because after all, it doesn't take a lot of skill in a sword battle for someone to do some real damage with a broad sword, right? If you can just sit close enough to the enemy, just simply swinging it back and forth will do the job. But Paul is saying that won't work when the principalities and powers of darkness come against you, you can't just say, well, I know somewhere in the Bible it says something about this. That would be the broadsword. The word he uses is for an assassin's dagger that most of the Roman soldiers carried, that if they had lost every other weapon, their stave, their sword, their battleaxe, their spear, if they'd lost everything else in conflict, they always had on their belt the machira, or the assassin's dagger, which had to be used with skill. Someone had to know how to use that in order to use it profitably in battle. You couldn't just start swinging it. It's only about this long, right? So what's Paul saying? It's not good enough for you to say, well, I read the Bible all the time and I can remember some stuff out of it, so when the devil comes, you know, I'll be prepared. No. He says, you have to do like your Lord did and answer specific temptations with specific references. In other words, you have to be able to use things that come against the temptation. If the devil comes to you and says, give in to this lust and this desire that you're thinking about, it won't do you much good to say, I know somewhere it says in the Old Testament that you're not to boil a goat in his mother's milk. Now that is a Bible verse, okay? But it's not very accurate and profitable to the situation there. It doesn't apply. And so that's his point. Remember that the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, to pierce down to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4.12. But it's got to be used skillfully. So don't fool yourself into thinking that if I just read a little devotional every now and then, and maybe read a little bit more Bible when I can, I'll be prepared. But when the devil comes, because if you can't answer him with scripture, he's going to make hay with you. Because you're not going to have the foundation that you need. So, again, that's not dealing directly with Jesus, but he is our example in that, and that's why I wanted to bring that out. Okay. So, we see then His fierceness. When it talks about in verse 15 that He shall rule them, that is the wicked, with the rod of iron, it's a reference back to Psalm 2. You shall rule them with a rod of iron, the Father says to the Son, you shall dash them in pieces like a pottery piece. The rod of iron. That is used to smite and to control. Now, what does Jesus bear toward His children? Not a rod of iron, but what? Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." The rod that Jesus has for his children when discipline has to happen is certainly not the rod of iron that brings everlasting destruction. It is the rod of correction that brings them back to the right way. And it's always paired with the staff of comfort for the child of God. So when God has to correct us for sin that we've not dealt with, And He's given us much space, as He always does, to repent. If we continue in that, then as a loving Father, He will discipline. But remember this, His rod will always be paired with His staff. The rod of correction will always also have with it the staff of comfort. Restoration. Not so with the wicked. There's one instrument for them, and it's the rod of iron that dashes them to pieces as a potter's vessel. We see then His fierceness in verse 15. He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now, let's face it. We're not used to, as Christians, thinking about the fierceness of Jesus. We don't talk about that much. And understandably so. But we have to keep that truth in mind because to not do so is to actually worship and think on an incomplete Jesus. And he's not incomplete. But if we only emphasize the love and mercy of God all the time, first of all to ourselves, and then to others, then we have left out half of his character. And more than that, we really can't have confidence in the love and mercy of God if it's not paired with his wrath and judgment on sin. I've said this a lot of times before, but for some of you it'll be new because you haven't been with us very long. Think of the attributes of God in Christ as a wagon wheel. And each of the spokes is equal in length, and in distance. And we would put on those spokes, by way of illustration, His wrath, His love, His mercy, His judgment, His comfort, and so forth. Whatever else we want to put. Now the hub of that wheel is the basic essential attribute of God. It is holiness. So that everything else that is true of God fans out from the basic that He is holy. That's why when Isaiah has his vision in the temple, the burning ones say, not holy only, or not holy twice, but three times. Not only a reference to the three persons in the Godhead, but when the Hebrew said something once, it was important, if it was an important statement. When they said it twice, it was saying, okay, everybody stop, pay attention to this. And if they said it three times, they were saying, this cannot be contested. This is so crucial, you have to stop everything you're doing, and if you haven't lined up with what I've said, you've got to now. That's why they say three times, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. So that holiness determines how all the other attributes of God are applied, I guess I'd say, to His creation and to His creatures. In other words, God is a God of wrath because He's holy. It is holy wrath. He's a God of love because it is holy love. He's a God of mercy because it is holy mercy. And on and on we could go. So it's important to remember that so that we won't shun from ever speaking about the wrath of God. I said a while back, maybe it was even last week, I'm not sure, last week or two, when I was talking about Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. During that time in the First Great Awakening, and to a great extent in the Second Great Awakening as well, and other localized moves of revival ever since then, the Asbury Seminary Revival in 1971 could go on and on. All of those had one same element in the preaching. The wrath and judgment of God was preached very, very clearly, very, very forcefully, along with pointing people to the only refuge they have and the only mercy they can find, and that's in Jesus Christ. So, again, to only emphasize God is loving all the time is really not the God of the Bible at all that we're talking about. I mean, we've got to be honest with ourselves and confess that. And Christian radio stations and music and writings and sermons and whatever else that always just beats the drum of God is loving, God is merciful, God is kind, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. and never ever any mention, first of all, of the existence of sin, and then God's absolute right and need to punish that sin if it is not forgiven, if that's not emphasized, then it's not the true gospel and it's not the true God. We just have to be honest and say that. And so we've got to understand that when this verse says, remember, this is an expression of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now, what tempers that for us is that we know there is one, the one who's exacting this judgment, is also the one who stands between the just judgment of God upon us as sinners and us, and that's Jesus. And all the wrath and fierceness of God's anger and His justice upon our sin was put upon His Son. He bore it for us completely, and we never have to answer for that again. Never have to answer for it. Of course we couldn't, first of all, and we would wind up like the wicked who turn away from God and be in the place of hell and destruction forever, but Christ has taken that. He's taken it upon himself for the people of God and so we understand that while God is a God of fierceness and wrath, we who are saved and all who will desire to be and all who will turn to Christ need not fear that fierceness and wrath because Christ has taken it. Alright, lastly, and we'll wind up with this today, which will finish this section, His fullness. The same vesture that is dipped in blood, verse 16 tells us, also has a name inscribed on it. And not only on the robe or vesture, but on the very thigh of the one riding the white horse. And that title is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We saw back in chapter 17, In verse 14, talking about the beast and those who follow him, it says, "...these shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful." So His fullness is what we're talking about here. John 1.16, John says, and of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. You've probably heard, and I've said it too, that the picture in the Greek is grace piled on top of grace. Here's some grace, you put some more, and you put some more, and you put some more, and it just keeps stacking up. Grace piled upon grace from what? From His fullness. His fullness. And of course, well known to many of us what Paul has to say about that in Colossians. He makes sure that he says it twice so we get the picture. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And of His fullness we have received. In Colossians 1.19 and 29, both places Paul testifies of the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Jesus Christ. And so when it says He's King of kings and Lord of lords, it means more than simply He has that royal title. He has that ability to rule. It means more than that. It means that there is none higher, there is none greater, and all that can be understood and conceived of God, and more beyond what we conceive, is present in the person of His Son. He is the fullness of God. And because of that then, we can have hope and we can trust him. I want to touch on one other thing before we close and then we'll have time for any comments or questions. Why do you think, or do you have any thoughts yet, before now, about why it says not only on his vesture is this name written, but on his thigh? We might think if it's going to be written on him somewhere, it'll probably be on his arm, right? Or maybe across his forehead, or on his chest. But why his thigh? Now what I'm about to tell you is not concrete proof or anything, but it certainly bears considering. Back in Genesis chapter 24, Abraham wants to find a wife, a godly wife, a wife out of his own side of the family for his son Isaac. And so he calls his main servant and says, go among my people, don't go among the heathen, go among my people and find a bride for Isaac. I charge you to do this and in order to confirm your oath to do so, put your hand under my thigh. That seems kind of odd to us, doesn't it? And so the servant does that, he puts his hand under Abraham's thigh and swears to go find a wife, which of course in God's good providence he's able to do, as we know the rest of the story. What that meant was, that was just one little snapshot of something that was a common practice among the Hebrews in that time. is that when a covenant was ratified, besides the sacrificial animals, we've talked about that recently, if there was an agreement made where one was to be held to the other and promising that other person they would do their part, then many times they would put their hand under the person's thigh and say, I swear to do so. So what it was was a signifying of the faithfulness on the part of the person who was making that declaration. Now, we know human beings can only be faithful up to a point. The best of us, as Spurgeon said, the best of men are men at the best, right? And so the picture here then is not so much of Abraham's servant and men like that, but of Christ. The name is on his thigh to hearken back to that sign and symbol that an everlasting covenant is made with us by the Father through his Son, the covenant of salvation. which of course Abraham was a figure of, right? And we've talked about that recently too, how Paul says in Galatians, you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Well, the promise was shown in that physical, visible way of that actual placing the hand under the thigh. So, I certainly would say there's good reason to make that connection here at least. And if there's other reasons why it's on his thigh, we'll find that out when he comes and it'll be okay too, right? Alright, so we'll stop right there. Now we have any questions or comments.