Jesus Christ, Our King!

^"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. 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. 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. ²¹And 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."

Revelation 19:11-21

 

 

Good Morning my beloved,

 

We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my privilege to have you here with us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness and commitment to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to God's Word! This is all so amazing. We ask you to pray that God will continue to give us boldness to speak the truth in ministry in the face of adversity in the coming days!

   

I want to let all of you know how grateful I am for all of you. We are so thankful your prayers and continue to pray for all of you. Prayer is such a powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. All for His glory! 

 

Throughout Jesus' earthly ministry, He spoke often of His coming to earth a second time. Nearing the conclusion of His labors in the flesh, the Lord told His disciples in Matthew 24:29-31 "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."

 

Earlier in His ministry He said in Matthew 16, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds."

 

Even a cursory review of the Gospels demonstrates that Jesus was born in order to provide His life as a sacrifice for sin.  Over the last few years,  it has become obvious to me that the church of Jesus Christ, has become preoccupied with the issues at hand and has allowed itself to be drawn into the vortex of the world’s problems, at least as far as I can discern. We have done a very dangerous thing, and that is making every effort to be a friend of the world. I believe the greatest reason for this, to say it boldly, is weak and distorted view of eschatology. 

 

Needless to say, this has lead us to becoming a worldly church, rather than a godly one. As a result, we've become more preoccupied with the world than we are with the return of Jesus Christ. And we have disintegrated deeper and deeper into sin. In fact, if you look at the lives of many of the redeemed, they've become indistinguishable from those who are unsaved. I'm not trying to be insensitive to the world around us, but our hope is not in fixing the world, our hope is in the return of Jesus Christ. And, that's where we must place our focus. Can you even begin to imagine the world with a loving, perfect ruler? Because that is what Scripture promises!

Let us pray

Heavenly Father,

Father, we are so grateful for Your Word, truth that is filled with so much hope.Thank You for redeeming us from the judgment to come. Lord, we pray that You would grant us compassion toward those who have not been delivered, have mercy on them and burden our hearts to pray for their souls. Reveal opportunities, as they present themselves for us to speak the saving truth to them.We ask that You would prepare their hearts to receive it. Help us to live in anticipation of the coming a day when the world will be the way it should be, when justice and righteousness will prevail. We thank you, Father, for all that you have planned for us. 

In Jesus' name we pray

Amen

 

Today's Message: Jesus Christ, Our King!

As we return to our study of the marvelous book of Revelation, we are now embarking on a new section of the chapter that starts with the return of Jesus Christ, the establishment of His millennial Kingdom, and then the new heaven and the new earth. Beloved, this is the event we’ve been waiting for all our lives. The hope has shined in every generation of the church. I believe that as contemporary Christians, we are in desperate need of recapturing the excitement. Is the hope that motivated every activity, every word spoken, and ruled every thought of the early church, and well should ours too. If you will recall, John had received revelation from angels before, but this particular revelation was so wonderful and amazing to John, that he fell before the angel to worship him, perhaps in appreciation for this good Word from God.

 

So much so, that he ignored very important principles that must always be observed regarding the messengers of God’s Word. He became so thrilled with the message, that he become enchanted with the messenger. I believe this is a common practice that we see occurring in the church today. We must bear in mind, that it is God’s message and the messenger is only proclaiming God's truth. 

 

In I Corinthians 1, Paul reminds us that "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

 

Scripturally speaking, this will be a long journey to the end of this chapter, because I believe that is it’s too significant, too vital and too important to simply gloss over. So we're going to take our time. Allow me to remind you, that this is not merely speculation, this is the future as God has revealed it in His Word.  This is an incredibly stunning vision. Let's begin and we'll see how far the Holy Spirit takes us.

 

Open with me your Bibles to the book of Revelation, chapter nineteen. Revelation chapter19. Interestingly enough, I have heard from a number of people who have said "I want nothing to do with a God of wrath that judges the world as you teach in Revelation. I prefer to believe in the God who is love." This is a very common heresy, being taught from the pulpits today. However, as we look at Scripture we see something very different. Because the God of the Bible, the same God Who brings blessing, also brings calamity. 

 

Allow me to remind you that our Lord, Jesus Christ, was delivered up by the predetermined plan and the foreknowledge of God. In fact, Jesus said of Himself in Revelation 13:8,  that He being the lamb was slain before the foundation of the world, an act that displayed the glory of God through His holy hatred of sin as well as his love and His mercy and His grace in His forgiveness. As we examine the Second Coming of Christ we will witness both his wrath as well as his mercy.

 

I now invite you to follow along with me as I read these first three verses to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit of God is saying to us. Listen for the voice of our Lord. Revelation 19:11-21.

 

"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. 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. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 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. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

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, 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.”

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.

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. 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."

Let's look at verse 1, "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."

 

Here, we have a description of this rider on the white horse that tells us who He is. He who sat on it is called Faithful and True." Obviously, this can be no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the very essence of truth.  In John 14:6, He said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."  

 

In our world of Satanic deception, and of smoke and mirrors, spin and instability and unfaithfulness and absolute outright lies, we can rest assured that all that Jesus is Who He says He is! Yes, beloved, our Lord, will come down from heaven, exactly as He said He would. He will come physically, personally, visibly, gloriously, powerfully with hosts of angels and with glorified saints. Notice that John says "And I saw heaven opened," this was not to let John in, but to let Jesus out. Quickly and triumphantly, the gates of heaven burst open, and the Lord appears.

 

Chapter 19, then closes with Christ’s arrival and the overwhelming victory that He brings at the battle of Armageddon. All that precedes 19:11 is somewhat introductory; it is setting the stage for the coming of the Lord as portrayed in these verses. However, at this point we come to a climactic place in the book of Revelation as it reveals the person of Jesus Christ, for now our Lord is presented as the victorious white horse rider who comes out of heaven and who is also King of kings and Lord of lords. 

 

I'd like you to notice the contrast, in the gospels, which deal primarily with Christ’s first advent, He is seen in His humiliation, rejection, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension. Here, in His return, it is one of triumph, glory, power, sovereignty and dominion. This is the high point in history, and the manifestation of the Son of God, in glory and the end of all angelic and human rebellion. God exalts His Son and puts all creation under His feet, a symbol of His victory and control. By the way, the prophet Zechariah prophesied about this very contrast.

 

But before there can be a thousand years of peace, thousand years of righteousness on earth, the current ruler of this world must be vanquished. So, God removes him. And, atlas the world will finally behold our holy God, in glory and holiness being the all encompassing attribute of God. Holiness is the defining characteristic of His person. At the end of the verse, we see both the motive and the mission, "and in righteousness He judges and wages war."

 

In verse 12, we get a look at His appearance."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."

 

I believe this is an absolutely amazing scene. We are so incredibly blessed, to be able to see the spiritual world, to be able to look beyond the veil of our limited sight. He has many diadems —crowns— upon His head. He has a vesture or a garment or a robe stained with blood. Not only does His names tell us who He is but so His appearance tell us who He is. The symbolism of "His eyes are a flame of fire," speaks of His fierce wrath against His enemies and the penetrating eyes of divine omniscience that is able to burn through all of the barricades of rebellion and to burn through and blast through the fortresses of deceit and be able to search and destroy all those hardened sinners that will be upon the earth. In Daniel chapter 10, he witnessed this when he beheld the pre incarnate Christ. 

 

Notice, "He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself." This is a secret name related to His deity.

 

John then sees "He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God." In verse 11, He is called "Faithful and True." Here, in verse 13, He is called "The Word of God." In John 1, John wrote "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In the original language, the word name, is the word "ónoma," meaning the manifestation or revelation of someone's character. The word robe used here, is "paludamentum," in Greek, which refers to a rider’s cloak. 

 

I'd like to make something clear here, this robe dipped in blood has nothing to do with the blood of Christ. First, His blood was shed upon the cross. Second, this has nothing to do with atonement. This is the blood of His enemies, this is war! The lion of the tribe of Judah wreaks vengeance upon his enemies in the slaughter of Armageddon. This is the same imagery seen in Isaiah 63. 

Verse 14, notice John sees "And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses." These are the hosts of heaven. We know the church age saints are there, the tribulation saints are there because those who died in the tribulation have been glorified, and the Old Testament saints are there because they too have been gathered into the presence of the Lord   because it says, "they were clothed in fine linen." 

 

Referring back to verse 8, it says "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." Notice the word "clothed" is a perfect tense, which looks at a permanent state of being so clothed. By the way, we know the New Testament church is there. This army is unarmed, no sword, no bow. Nor is there armor, we are clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And, from Matthew 25, we know the angels are there. This is the regiment of the redeemed. By the way, this is consistent with chapter 17.

 

In verses 15 and 16, we see the return of the conqueror, and finally, the rule of the conqueror. "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. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 

 

This is graphic imagery. "From His mouth comes a sharp sword." Remember, we saw that back in chapters 1 and 2, as the sword defended His church. Here John is referring to God’s rule on earth through the very person of Christ. His authority is also seen in the sharp sword with which he smites the nations in judgment, slaying and removing the enemies. The sword is now of judgment. And that’s what He will do. "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."

 

Isaiah 11, “He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.” 

 

If you will turn with me to Psalm 2, it tells us what He is going to do with the nations. "Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, "Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!" He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, "But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain."

 

God will install Christ on the holy mountain, and He’ll scoff at the nations who defy Him.

 

Look at verses 7-9, Psalm 2:7-9. "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’"

 

Let's turn back to Revelation 19, verse 16: "And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." The 70th week of pre-kingdom judgments prophesied by Daniel will finally be over and he will be King of kings. The unconditional covenants that he made to Abraham and to David will finally be fulfilled. Israel’s long anticipated Messiah will finally return to earth, ascend his earthly throne and establish His Kingdom.

 

All of His enemies are vanquished, in a massive global slaughter. Because throughout human history, they preferred Satan over the Son of God, a murderer over the Prince of Peace. Even after judgment after judgement, the preaching of the gospel during the time of the tribulation, His mercy abused, grace rejected, and His name was openly blasphemed. And so, He comes.

Listen as I read Isaiah 32, verse 1: "Behold, a king will reign righteously and princes will rule justly."  The believers are the princes. 

Remember back in II Peter 3, "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

In Closing..

 For centuries, the world has been warned, the Word of God has been preached generation after generation, while the world mocked and scoffed, blaspheming the name of our Lord. What appears to be a delay, was an opportunity for Him to manifest His long suffering love towards sinners. Yet, they rejected Him, they mocked Him, and blasphemed His name. Rather than to worship the Creator, they worship the created, Satan, Buddha, Allah, Vishnu, Mother Earth, even themselves.

In Isaiah 46, God says, "To whom would you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me, that we would be alike?" 

Then, in verses 8-9, He gives us the answer: "Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me." 

Allow me to remind you, the Gentile Church has temporarily replaced rebellious Israel as the custodians of divine truth. We need to be about God the Father and Christ the Son,  and preaching His gospel before He comes and snatches us away. Which, the Apostle Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15,  will occur "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."

As the church, we await the Rapture, not the Second Coming. Scripture clearly tells us these are two separate events. Though the word Rapture is not mentioned in Scripture, nor is the word Millennium. However, allow me to point out, that in the Rapture, Christ is coming "for" His saints. 

In I Thessalonians 4, Paul writes: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." 

Revelation 3 tells us "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown."

Our text today in Revelation 19:14, tells us He is coming "with" His saints: "And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses." There is a huge difference! 

Allow me to remind you, that Satan is the great deceiver, he will do anything to deceive God's elect and keep them from entering into the Kingdom of God. He knows he cannot keep telling people that God doesn't exist, because the evidence of His existence is overwhelming. His strategy is to convince people they have "more time, "  causing men to become preoccupied with themselves rather than Jesus Christ. 

For further evidence of this, just look at the world today, people are literally obsessed with politics and survivalism and the environment and they are arming themselves.  This is a common strategy of the enemy to distract us from Christ and the eternal Kingdom and to become preoccupied with things that really don’t matter, the passing world. Is it any wonder why Scripture tells us to keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God?

I am not looking for the Antichrist, I am looking for Christ! It is my prayer, that you will join me.

May it be so..
 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen 

 

 

 

 

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