Revelation 19:1-21 Part 7
REVELATION 19:1-21 Part 7
1) After these I heard as a great sound of a multitude in the heaven saying “halleluia the salvation and the glory and the power of our God,
2) for His judgments are true and just; for He judged the great harlot that corrupted the earth in her fornication and avenged His servants’ blood at her hand.”
3) Then again they declared “halleluia! Her smoke ascends into the ages of ages.”
4) Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped The God seated over the throne, saying “Amen! Halleluia!”
5) Then there came forth a sound from the throne saying, “all you His servants, the small and the great who are afeared, extol our God!”
6) Then I heard as sound of a multitude and as sound of many waters and as sound of mighty thunders saying “halleluia! Kurios the Almighty God reigns!
7) Rejoicing and celebrating we will give Him the glory, for the wedding feast of the Lamb did come! And His betrothed did ready herself!
8) And it was given to her that she be arrayed in pure, bright linen; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the holy ones.”
9) Then he says to me, “write: ‘blessed the ones called to the wedding feast of the Lamb’”; and says to me, “these true words are from God”.
10) And I fell before his feet to pay homage to him, and he says “see you not do that, for I am the fellow servant of you and your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
11) Then I saw the heaven opened and, lo, a white horse; and seated upon it One called Faithful and True, and He judges and wages war in righteousness,
12) His eyes as flaming fire, many diadems on His head, having a written name that is known by no one but Him.
13) He was clothed about – the raiment blood-spattered, and His Name called The Word of God,
14) the armies in the heaven – clothed in pure white linen - following Him on white horses,
15) a sharp sword proceeding from His mouth, that with it He would smite the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the wrath – the vengeance of Almighty God.
16) And He has a name written on His raiment and on His thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
17) Then I saw one messenger standing in the sun; and it cried out – a great sound – saying to all the birds flying in mid-heaven: “Come! Gather to the great feast of God
18) that you may eat the flesh of rulers, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of the strong, the flesh of horses and of those sitting upon them, the flesh of all – both free and slave, small and great.
19) Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to wage war with the One sitting upon the horse and His army;
20) and the beast was seized (and with it the false prophet that did the signs before it by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and paid homage to its image); both were cast alive into the lake of fire, being burned in brimstone;
21) and the remaining ones were killed with the sword of the One sitting upon the horse – that which proceeded from His mouth; and all the birds were gorged from their flesh.
John is shown, by the messenger, that which is necessary to be done in quickness! And the heavens are opened up for John (here in verse eleven) so he can see the will and purpose of God that is about to happen; and John is caused to see it in order that he can write it for the Lord’s bondservants in the Churches, that they be comforted and assured in all that is about to happen!
And what John sees first (verse eleven)is a white horse and One seated on it called Faithful and True; and John begins that description with the word “Lo”.
And we know that that little word calls attention to a previous prophecy concerning God’s purpose and will regarding Jerusalem and the land, and the appearance – the Parousia - of God’s Anointed King at the end of the age.
And in this case, that prophetic event would be the pre-incarnation appearance of our Lord to Daniel during the time that Israel was in captivity in Babylon. Daniel was shown not only Israel’s punishment and captivity under the first great beast of history; but he received prophecy concerning three additional beasts that would defeat and subjugate Israel as punishment for Israel’s ongoing harlotry.
These beasts were described to Daniel as four world-wide kingdoms raised up to cut off the Seed that was promised from the beginning.
The visions that Daniel was caused to see included all the terrible things that Israel would suffer under the heavy hand of pagan nations; and it all caused him to grieve mightily.
But Daniel was also shown a fifth Kingdom that would be raised up in the midst of the fourth one; and that fourth beast (the most ferocious of the four) would then be shattered and splintered by the fifth Kingdom… a Kingdom that would last forever and never be destroyed.
Daniel’s desire for more information about Israel’s ultimate demise and the rise of that fifth Kingdom was a great mystery only for the end of the age. And Daniel was given a scroll with seven seals. And in that scroll was the Revelation of the mystery of God. And the seals weren’t to be opened until the last days.
Then in Revelation chapter six, John was shown the Lamb of God Who was sacrificed to God for the sin of the world, having faithfully completed the work that the Father had given Him to do. And He is given that scroll! And He opens the first seal of the scroll shown to Daniel. So, you see, it was the last days! Since Daniel was told that the scroll wasn’t to be opened until the last days, and since the Lamb of God did open it (as John was shown in chapter six), then it is the last days!
And the very first thing that John is shown from the scroll is One holding the covenantal “bow”, wearing the crown of the King of Kings; and He was seated on a white horse!
Revelation six is obviously the first Revelation of the mystery of God sealed to Daniel until the end of the age. It’s also obvious that it is the Revelation of the fifth Kingdom shown to Daniel; and it is the only other place in all of Scripture where our Lord is seated on a white horse!
So what John is shown here in verses eleven through sixteen of our text is the end of the age; and it is the mystery of God revealed; and it has to do with the fifth kingdom and its King. The connections are too obvious to miss… for this is the promised Parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ that He, Himself, revealed to His disciples. And all the Churches are to see it through John’s eyes – the Parousia/coming of the King of Kings in the Glory Cloud of God’s tabernacle.
Lo! A while horse…!
What was revealed to Daniel and sealed until the end, and then seen by John when the first seal of the scroll was opened, is now fully revealed to John beginning here in verse eleven; for it’s the last day, and the time is near. His Kingdom is “at hand”!
The lost sheep of the house of Jacob (which are the remnant of the tribes of Jacob promised by YAHVEH) have been saved - saved from the wrath to come and scattered into the nations; the harlot has been judged by Almighty God The Father, and will be destroyed by the sword and burned in fire and brimstone; and the further work of Kurios Almighty God the Son commences in the nations and peoples and tribes and tongues of the world.
It IS the mystery of God revealed. It is the end of the age.
Then the text says (verse eleven), the One seated on the white horse, called Faithful and True…. Recall in the Revelation to John, in chapters two and three, that Jesus sent individual messages to the seven Churches; and those seven messages addressed issues having to do with Israel and judaism (Israel’s religion). The Churches that had dealt with those issues were praised in those messages; and the ones that had not were threatened and called to repentance; for it was the end of the age, and the Day of YAHVEH was near.
One of those Churches had been established in the city of Laodicea. Jesus’ message to that Church was threatening. He said in that message that He would knock on the door of that Church, and if it would repent He would come in and “sup” with them; but if not, He would “visit” them in the Day of YAHVEH.
The judiast issue in that Church was exactly the same as that which brought the wrath of God upon Jerusalem and the land of Israel. It was the display of wealth as the expression of self-sufficiency, and independent self-determination, and an indulgent disregard for God’s holy Law-word. And since that was the case, there was no expectation or anticipation of the soon-to-come Parousia/Presence of Jesus Christ – Kurios, Almighty God the Son!
So, when Jesus sent the message to the Church in Laodicea (as recorded in chapter three of The Revelation) the Church had not dealt with these judaist members who were acting like the harlot Jerusalem!
Jesus said in that message (Revelation chapter three) that He was the Faithful and True Witness – the exact words that we find here in verse eleven of our text, and the only other place in Scripture where they are found – (He was the faithful and true Witness).
And the Church needed to buy gold from HIM; and they needed to have the white garments of righteousness given to them; and they needed salve for their blind eyes; and if they didn’t want a visitation from Him at His Parousia, then repentance was required of them!
In our text here in chapter nineteen John is shown the Amen; the Faithful and True Witness. Kurios Almighty God reigns! And the wedding feast of the Lamb did come! And seated upon the white horse One called Faithful and True (the exact words Jesus spoke in His message to the Church in Laodicea.)
He IS Faithful and True; He IS the One from the beginning: and He will carry out the judgment on Jerusalem; and He will go forth to overcome; and He will judge and wage war in righteousness.
The Church at Laodicea will be spewed out of His Mouth should it not repent; for those who supped with Him at the wedding feast of the Lamb are those who have put on the white robes of righteous virginity.
The Faithful and True One will knock on the door of this Church; but He won’t go in to sup with them should they not repent and deal with the judaists who are still connected to Jerusalem by their harlotry. They were wealthy, self-sufficient, and self-defined (just like the harlot Jerusalem). And their damnable heresies (for whatever reason) were being allowed and harbored in that Church!
So, when he executes the judgment which His Father has now pronounced (right here at the beginning of this text), Jesus will also “visit” this Church in Laodicea. They can’t cling to Jerusalem and the land of Israel and be members of the body of Christ at the same time! They can’t dismiss the prophetic Word regarding Jerusalem and the land and be members of the body of Christ at the same time; they can’t conduct themselves as if there was no Law-word of God and be members of the body of Christ at the same time; they can’t use their wealth as an expression of independence and self-sufficiency and be members of the body of Christ at the same time.
And they certainly can’t dispense with anticipation of the coming Parousia of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world and be members of the body of Christ at the same time.
The judaists in the Churches had to be dealt with. The Church couldn’t be “lukewarm” regarding them (like the tepid water that was conducted to Laodicea, aboveground, from six miles away). The judaists were the “seed” of the harlot and the seed of the serpent. They contaminated the Church with their disputations and soaring words and philosophies and with eyes of the adulterer.
And our Lord demanded repentance from this Church – or else!
Jerusalem, in all of its brightness and glory and wealth (all of it given by God as a reflection of His glory) considered itself the eternal city – blessed forever, no matter what it did. And what it did was enchant and entice the nations with its great wealth and beauty – corrupting the peoples of the world with its fornication (chapter eighteen).
The priests and elders and scribes and pharisees of Israel considered all of this Israel’s “due” as the people that had been set apart by God. Jerusalem had determined for herself what she was and what she should be! She had defined herself – for herself! And when God sent His prophets to call her to repentance, their blood was poured out on the land.
And then (as Jesus said they would) the judaists… the judaists pursued and persecuted those who Jesus came to seek and to save – the remnant of Jacob. These were the ones for whom Jesus had given His body and shed His blood. These were the ones who were called to the marriage feast; these were the ones given white, linen robes of righteousness. They were Christians! They belonged to HIM! They were members of His body! And they were persecuted by judaists!
And it was judaists that corrupted the Churches in the nations (or tried to). As we already know, every letter from the apostles dealt with them and their corruption. And Jesus’ messages to the Churches at the beginning of The Revelation all have to do with them. Their sins against YAHVEH were all the sins of a cursed and depraved people that had been betrothed to YAHVEH and had disgraced His glory and had corrupted the nations of the world.
But as we’ve seen here in verse eleven of our text, which matches exactly the message to the Church at Laodicea, Jesus Christ is the Faithful and True Witness at Whose Parousia all Israel was to be judged. And He would not abide the leaven of judaism, in any form, in His church. His Church was to be leaven and salt and light to the nations and peoples and tongues and tribes of the earth. It was to leaven – not to be leavened!
You remember, not too long after pentecost, in one of the early “gatherings” of the Church, apostle Paul gave apostle Peter a sharp, public rebuke because Peter was deferring to judaists who were also present at the meeting!
Well, Peter learned what they were like! Later on he wrote a letter to the Churches about them. Here is some of what he wrote (second Peter chapter two):
But even in those days there were false prophets, just as there will be false teachers among you today. They will be men who will subtly introduce dangerous heresies. They thereby deny the Lord who redeemed them. And it won’t be long before they bring on themselves their own downfall. Many will follow their pernicious teaching and thereby bring discredit on the way of truth. In their lust to make converts these men will try to exploit you too with their bogus arguments.
His judgment is chiefly reserved for those who have indulged all the foulness of their lower natures, and have nothing but contempt for authority. These men are arrogant and presumptuous—they think nothing of scoffing at the glories of the unseen cosmos.
But these men, with no more sense than the unreasoning brute beasts which are born to be caught and killed, scoff at things outside of their own experience, and will most certainly be destroyed in their own corruption. Their wickedness has earned them an evil end and they will be paid in full.
These are the men who delight in daytime self-indulgence; they are foul spots and blots, playing their tricks at your very dinner-table. Their eyes can’t even look at a woman without lust, they captivate the unstable ones, and their technique of getting what they want is, through long practice, highly developed. They are born under a curse, for they have abandoned the right way and wandered off to follow the old trail of (the false prophet),
These men are like wells without a drop of water in them, like the changing shapes of whirling storm-clouds; and their fate will be the black night of utter darkness.
With their high-sounding nonsense they use the sensual pull of the lower passions to attract those who were at the point of cutting loose from their companions-in-misconduct. They promise them liberty. Liberty! – when they themselves are imprisoned in utter depravity.
You see, this is the apostle’s letter to the Churches (written well-before John’s Revelation) – warning them about the very same ones about whom Jesus warns in His message to the Church at Laodicea!
And it’s the same ones about whom Jesus spoke to His disciples in Matthew twenty three, when He said that these judaists – sons of serpents - would pursue them and persecute them and kill them; and for this, Jesus told them, they would suffer the blood of all the righteous in history!
And here in our text, John is shown the imminent Parousia of the One Who is Faithful and True (same words as in the message to the Church at Laodicea). It was the “coming”, the “Presence”, of the King of Kings at the end of the age: and the Churches that harbored judaists (and refused to deal with them) would suffer a personal visit!
Now, as John continues to write what he is shown (verse eleven), he says “he judges and wages war in righteousness”.
As the heaven opens and John can now see the imminent Parousia of the Christ, he sees One seated on a white horse, Faithful and True, “and He judges and wages war in righteousness”.
As mentioned last Lord’s Day, please pay close attention to how John writes what he has seen. This view of God’s will and purpose is written in the present tense – even though John sees that which is imminent… about to be… that which is “at hand”.
John sees the One Who IS seated on a white horse (present tense); One Who IS Faithful and True (present tense); One Who judges and wages war in righteousness (present tense)… although His Parousia is imminent – yet to be!
The obvious reference (in these tenses in the present) is to the spoken Word of God to Moses as YAHVEH says “Ihiye asher Ihiye” (I AM THAT I AM) “tell them I AM sent you”.
It’s also obvious that at our Lord’s appearance to John in all His glory, as written in chapter one of this letter, Jesus Christ said to Him that He IS is; that He IS was: and that He IS shall be (all present tense).
He IS the Word of God; He IS the One Whose appearance is near; He IS the One Who will quickly execute His Father’s sentence upon Jerusalem and the land. And that Word of God says that He judges and wages war in righteousness (present tense); the Word of God in the older Scripture prophesied that it would be so!
There are numerous places where that’s the case (His judgment in righteousness)… but let’s listen to a few anyway. The first is from one of my favorite Psalms… Psalm seventy-two. It has to do with the coming of the King – David’s son and David’s Lord:
2) He will judge Your people with righteousness, Your afflicted with justice.
3) And the mountains will bring prosperity to the people, and the hills (bring) righteousness.
4) He will judge the afflicted of the people, save the children of the needy, crushing the oppressor.
5) And He will continue as long as the sun and the moon endure - throughout all generations.
He judges in righteousness; He wages war in righteousness – crushing the oppressor so that His afflicted people are justly set free! And please understand that the war that He wages is a “righteous” war! It isn’t a war in which there are two equal combatants! He is the Righteous One! He wages war in righteousness – crushing the oppressor! There’s no contest! He justly – righteously – frees His people who are afflicted by the oppressor!
Let’s hear the next one. This is from Psalm ninety-six:
10) Say among the nations: “YAHVEH reigns. The creation is firmly established; it cannot be shaken. He judges the peoples justly.”
11) Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound.
12) Let the fields and everything in them exult. Then all the trees of the forest will shout for joy
13) before YAHVEH, for He is coming – He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the earth with righteousness and the peoples with His faithfulness.
And from Isaiah eleven. Isaiah writes:
1) And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, a branch out of his root shall bear fruit.
2) And the Spirit of YAHVEH shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of YAHVEH.
3) His delight shall be in the fear of YAHVEH; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither judge after the hearing of his ears;
4) but with righteousness shall he judge the afflicted, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.
As John writes here in verse eleven of our text, at the Parousia of Kurios Almighty God the Son, He will judge and wage war in righteousness – exactly as prophesied in the older Scripture.
One last prophecy… here’s Jeremiah chapter twenty three:
1) Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says YAHVEH.
2) Therefore, thus says YAHVEH God of Israel against the shepherds that feed my people: YOU have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings.
3) And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
4) And I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed; neither shall any be missing, says YAHVEH.
5) lo, the days come, says YAHVEH, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
6) In his days Judah shall be saved; Israel (Jacob) shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: YAHVEH Our Righteousness.
So you see, when John writes to the Churches of the Parousia/coming of the One Who judges and wages war in righteousness, the Churches will recognize the language and be driven back to the older prophetic Word of the One “coming” Who is the promised King! He is the One Who will gather the remnant of Israel into the New Jerusalem and the New Israel where they will dwell safely – crushing the oppressor, and overcoming and righteously ruling the nations with the rod of His mouth!
Now, further, John continues to affirm for the Churches that this is the Parousia/appearance of the Christ by now describing His eyes! This description of His glorious appearance in the glory cloud of God’s tabernacle is the same as that which has been seen previously by John!
At the beginning of The Revelation, having been apprised of the quickness in which all would be happening, John is confronted with the appearance of the glorified Christ Himself.
Listen to what John wrote in Revelation chapter one:
“And I turned around to see the voice that was speaking with me; and when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
and in midst of the lampstands like a son of man, having been clothed upon to the feet and having been wrapped at the chest with a golden girdle:
His head and hair white as wool, white as snow, and His eyes as flaming fire,
and His feet like burnished brass as in having been fired in a furnace, and His voice as a sound of many waters….
Here in our chapter nineteen text, as John is shown the appearance of the Christ at His Parousia, the description of Him continues in verse twelve with the words: “His eyes as flaming fire….”
It’s exactly as John describes Him in chapter one. And both occurrences in The Revelation refer to one other place in all of Scripture in which we find those same words. And they’re found, once again, in the prophecy of Daniel where the scroll of the mystery of God was sealed until the last days!
The pre-incarnate appearance of incarnate God the Son is described by Daniel in chapter ten; and it is just before Daniel heard that the scroll would be sealed – not to be opened until the last days.
Here is that description by Daniel in chapter ten:
5) and I lift up mine eyes, and look, and lo, One clothed in linen, and his loins girt about with pure gold of Uphaz,
6) and his body as beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flames of fire, and his arms and his feet as the color of burnished brass, and the voice of his words as the voice of a multitude.
As the glory cloud tabernacle of God is opened for John, he is shown the very One Who appeared to Daniel – the One Who sealed the scroll until the last days. And John sees Him, that very One, seated on a white horse, His eyes as flames of fire, ready to carry out the sentence upon Jerusalem and the land – crushing the oppressor that has persecuted His people. It is the last days. And in justice and righteousness, by the Sword and in fire and brimstone, Jerusalem and the land will cease to exist in His wrath and fury. And His further work of subduing the nations under His authority will commence.
For clarity now, let’s go through the sequence of events as God purposed and willed them to be.
One with eyes as flames of fire appears to Daniel and speaks to him of the last days. And He shows Daniel a scroll with seven seals, a scroll of the mystery of God which will be opened at the end of the age to reveal all that God had decreed for those last days.
And apostle John sees the sacrificial Lamb of God open the seals of that scroll there in the last days.
And at the opening of the very first seal, John sees the King of Kings, with the covenantal bow of Almighty God, ride out on a white horse – overcoming and to overcome, the opening of the seals revealing all that would come to pass quickly.
And in chapter eighteen, John hears the details of the judgment of God upon the harlot Israel. And here in chapter nineteen John sees the glory cloud open. And there He is – seated on the white horse, eyes aflame, ready to carry out that judgment.
As John writes, all of the remnant of the tribes of Jacob have been freed from the oppressor, and they’re scattered throughout the nations in the little Churches. They belong to The Christ; and He comforts them and assures them in this letter that this is all of God. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is their new temple; and they are His new Jerusalem – His new Israel. And as the river of living water flows into the nations and peoples and tribes and tongues from under the new temple of God, they will all one day acknowledge Him as King and Savior of the world.
This is the view of the Parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ that John is shown; and it continues through verse sixteen; so we’ll be back here next Lord’s Day. After that, we’ll hear all about the “second feast” that is revealed to John (verses seventeen through twenty-one).