The Defeat of God's Enemies
The Conquering Lamb • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
We are getting close to the end of the end. We are approaching the conclusion of the book of Revelation. We aren’t there yet, but we are close.
We have been studying Revelation for over a year and in the study, we have seen how end of the age is being described to us in seven different cycles.
In those cycles, there have been all sorts of moving pictures—symbols and numbers and Old Testament allusions, helping us understand what God has been doing in history and what He will do to bring it to a close.
Seven is God’s perfect number of completion. So Revelation gives us seven cycles or sections, to show us the complete picture of God’s work in history.
Each section shows us God’s judgment of the world and the redemption of His people through His Son from a different perspective.
It is like 7 instant replays from 7 different angles of one glorious, world-ending play.
Cycle 1: Jesus in the midst of the seven churches of Asia Minor (Revelation 1:1-3:22)
Those churches gave us a picture, not just of what was happening in Asia Minor in the 1st Century, but how things will be in churches around the world until Christ returns
And how Christ is the only answer for the church as she waits on His return
Cycle 2: A vision of heaven and the seven seals (Revelation 4:1-7:17)
We saw this amazing worship scene in heaven and we saw that Jesus, the slain but standing Lamb, was the only One worthy to take the scroll of history and open its seven seals
Just like the first cycle, this section covered the entire span of history between the first and second coming of Christ
Cycle 3: The Seven Trumpets (Revelation 8:1-11:19)
Much like the seals, it showed how God’s judgment affects the world
And we also saw how the church will suffer and then be redeemed in the midst of it all
Cycle 4: The Drama of the Dragon, the Woman and the Child (Revelation 12:1-14:20)
The Savior is born
The Dragon wants to devour Him, but he can’t
So he turns on the church and seeks to kill her in the world
He unleashes his beasts upon her
The first Beast represents the governments that Satan will use to persecute the church
The second Beast represents the false religions that Satan will use to persecute the church and deceive the world
But in the end, the world will be judged when the sickle swings, while the church will be gathered to the Lord
Cycle 5: The Seven Bowls (Revelation 15:1-16:21)
This cycle focused on the end of the end—showing us how God’s judgments will culminate in final judgment
Cycle 6: The Harlot and the Bride/Babylon and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 17:1-19:21)
And tonight, we wrap up this cycle.
We see the end of the penultimate section of Revelation
We will see Christ emerge victorious against His enemies.
With each cycle, the picture of the end has become more clear.
The imagery has become more vivid.
We have seen references to judgment in general, but as the book has progressed, it has become more specific
And tonight it will be very specific
For tonight, the demise of every enemy but the Dragon is described.
Satan’s final destruction is saved for the seventh and final cycle
But tonight, the Beast will fall.
The Second Beast, the False Prophet, will fall.
And tonight, everyone who follows them will fall.
The birds of death will gather
But it all happens under the umbrella of Christ the Victor.
The demise of the world is a result of the vindication of Christ.
We will look at Christ the Victorious King and the demise of His enemies, through the lens of four names that Jesus possesses in Revelation 19:11-21.
See if you can find them as I read:
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 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 with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And 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.
The victorious King is revealed in 4 names.
And those names are demonstrated in the appearance of Christ and the actions of Christ
FAITHFUL AND TRUE (v. 11)
FAITHFUL AND TRUE (v. 11)
Heaven opens in verse 11. This is a sign that we are about to see judgment.
When the door of heaven opened in 4:1, we saw Christ take the scroll from the right hand of the One seated on the throne and begin to open the seals that showed God’s judgments in history
When the temple in heaven was opened in 11:19, final judgment ensued.
When the tent of witness in heaven is opened in 15:5, the seven angels emerge with the bowls of wrath
And now, in 19:11, the Christ the Victorious King emerges.
It is the most clear picture of Christ the Conqueror leading the way in Final Judgment that we have seen in Revelation thus far.
He is not merely unsealing a scroll or assumed to be present as final judgment occurs
He is appearing at the site of final battle.
He is personally seeing to the demise of His enemies
And as He appears, John associates Him with four names.
Two of the names He is called.
Two of them are written
We start with the first name He is called: Faithful and True
1. Christ the Victor is Faithful and True (v. 11).
1. Christ the Victor is Faithful and True (v. 11).
He is faithful because He keeps His promises.
He kept the promise of being the long-awaited Messiah by being born of a virgin and living a perfect life
He kept His promise by being the long-awaited Redeemer who died on the Cross for His people
He kept His promise about taking up His life again as He resurrected from the grave
He kept His promise to ascend to heaven and give the Holy Spirit to His disciples
And one day, He will return and keep His promises to bring justice to creation and fulfill every promise He ever made to His people fully and finally
The world laughs at this idea. They think God doesn’t exist or He isn’t concerned or that He is slack regarding His promises.
But Peter tells us that is not the case:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
The faithful King will keep His promises. He will judge the earth, while also saving His people.
But the title of faithful has a partner—for Jesus is also called “True.”
Meaning—He is the embodiment of truth.
He is filled with grace and truth.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He is the way, THE TRUTH, and the life and no one comes to the Father but through Him.
As the One who is called True, the Lord cannot and does not and will not lie.
Everything He said is true and it will come to pass.
More than that, He IS the truth, which means that He is opposed to all falsehood and He will lay the sword of His mouth to anyone who stands with it.
The Faithful and the True.
This is how He is described and if you are a part of the church, this is how you know Him.
If you are a Christian, this is your experience.
He has kept all His promises.
He has showered you with His truth.
He has never let you down.
And He won’t in the end, either.
THE NAME NO ONE KNOWS (v. 12)
THE NAME NO ONE KNOWS (v. 12)
Secondly, we have the first name that is written, in verse 12.
And yet, oddly, it is a name that no one knows.
It is reminiscent of Revelation 2:17
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
This time there is not a name being given out
This is a written name that belongs to Jesus
This name shows us the incomprehensibility of Christ, as well as His unrivaled authority.
2. Christ the Victor is incomprehensible and authoritative (v. 12).
2. Christ the Victor is incomprehensible and authoritative (v. 12).
INCOMPREHENSIBLE
INCOMPREHENSIBLE
The fact that no one knows this name stunts any attempt that any theologian or scholar would make in saying they know everything there is to know about Jesus.
It simply isn’t possible.
He is beyond your ability to fully comprehend Him.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t know Him. He has revealed Himself to us in the Word and in doing so, He has provided all we need to be saved and to live a godly life unto death.
But you haven’t figured Him out.
So Christ is coming to a world that thinks it has the measure of Him. He is coming to churches, theologians, thinkers and philosophers who have written books about Him and made pronouncements about Him. But the One who is coming is the One who has a name that no one fully knows.
Joel Beeke
AUTHORITY
AUTHORITY
But the name that no one knows speaks to more than just the incomprehensibility of Christ. It also speaks to the authority that Christ possesses.
In the ancient world, to know another person’s name was to exercise a level of control over them.
For example, when Jacob wrestles with God in Genesis 32, God will not tell Jacob His name.
Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
In the same way, when Samson’s parents want to know the name of the angel of the Lord, he will not give it.
For Christ to have a name that no one knows, is for Christ to be beyond the control of any competing authority.
No one possessed His authority.
He stands alone.
And that is why He has a name that no one knows but Him.
There is no one else we can say these things about.
No one else and nothing else is beyond the ability of comprehension in the way that Christ is.
No one else and nothing else has the authority of the One who is Faithful and True
THE WORD OF GOD (v. 13)
THE WORD OF GOD (v. 13)
Let’s keep going and look to the third name of Christ that is introduced.
Like “Faithful and True,” this is a name that He is called.
“…the name by which he is called is The Word of God.”
3. Christ the Victor is the Word of God (v. 13).
3. Christ the Victor is the Word of God (v. 13).
Christ being the Word is not new to John’s writing. This is how his Gospel begins:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
For the Greeks, the word Logos (which translates to Word in the English), was the impersonal force behind all of life.
John took commandeered Logos to explain who Jesus is—not an impersonal force, but the fullness of God in a Person.
John–Acts (1:1–5. The Life-Giving Word)
The Word is the communication of the Father. He is the rational force of Fatherly fulsomeness overflowing in infinite goodness. That Word was no impersonal force but a full person, alongside the Father at the principal moment of all things. The Word was both with God and was God. Was and with. What God was, the Word was. The Word was God, and the Word was with God. Coequal, indistinguishable, yet distinct.
Jim Hamilton
Christ is the Word.
He is the One who was with God and IS God.
Coequal with the Father.
Indistinguishable, yet distinct.
And His identity as the Word of God is demonstrated in his eyes like a flame of fire in verse 12.
The burning of His eyes show how as the Word of God, He sees past our external behavior and sees what is in our hearts.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
We will see Him judging as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in a moment and that judgment will take place by the blade of His Word:
Verse 15: “From his mouth comes a sharp sword...”
Christ the Word will judge with the Word.
TRANSCENDENT AND IMMANENT
TRANSCENDENT AND IMMANENT
Understanding Jesus as the Word of God, combined with the name he has that no one knows, show us how the Lord is both transcendent and immanent.
He has a mysterious name that the greatest of scholars and theologians do not know—He is above and beyond us.
But He is also the Word of God, the full revelation of who God is in a Person—He is near to us.
We hold these things in tension as believers.
Christ who is returning is our closest Friend and Brother.
But Christ who is returning is also the One who spoke the oceans into existence in a day.
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (v. 16)
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (v. 16)
Faithful and True; the name no one knows; The Word of God...
These names have had us scaling up the mountain of Jesus’ majesty, but now we reach the summit.
This is where we will spend the rest of our time tonight.
If you look to verse 16, you will see that Jesus holds a title only He can claim:
4. Christ the Victor is King of Kings and Lord of Lords (v. 16).
4. Christ the Victor is King of Kings and Lord of Lords (v. 16).
This title of Christ is what we will tie most of the imagery in this passage to.
The absolute sovereignty and majesty of Christ is all over these verses in His appearance and His actions.
Jesus was called the Lord of Lords and King of Kings back in Revelation 17:14
They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
The Lord of Lords and King of Kings will overcome the Beast and the kings allied with him.
Now, in chapter 19, we are seeing it come to pass.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords has reappeared with His chosen and faithful.
He wears many diadems on His head
It is time to show once and for all that He is superior to every other ruler in history—in earth or in heaven.
It is time for the final war to commence.
WHITE HORSE, JUDGMENT AND WAR (v. 11, 15)
WHITE HORSE, JUDGMENT AND WAR (v. 11, 15)
First of all, He shows His supremacy by riding upon a white horse (v. 11)
In ancient times, rulers would come back from battle riding on a white horse as a sign of victory.
Christ returns on a triumph steed before the battle even occurs.
That is because his victory is not in question.
He arrives on the white horse in righteousness to judge and to make war (v. 11).
His judgment will be be two-fold.
It will be both saving and damning.
For Sheep, whose sin has been atoned for by the Conquering Lamb, it will be a judgment unto salvation.
Their sin has been punished at Calvary and they have proven their salvation in perseverance.
For Goats, who have remained proud in their hearts and have stood in opposition to the Son of God, it will be a judgment unto damnation.
Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
The sword protruding from His mouth shows how powerful and effective the words of Christ are to judge nations
Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would have this power:
He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
And Paul told us that the man of lawlessness—the final and worst version of the Second Beast/False Prophet, would be struck down with the breath of Jesus’ mouth:
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
BLOODY CLOTHES, ROD OF IRON, WINEPRESS (v. 13, 15)
BLOODY CLOTHES, ROD OF IRON, WINEPRESS (v. 13, 15)
The judgment imagery continues in verse 13.
The Lord has bloody clothes—not because He is the Lamb who was slain, but because He is the Lamb who is slaying.
This is not Christ in His humiliation.
This is Christ in His triumphant return.
The picture is taken from Isaiah 63, where Yahweh’s has blood splattered on Him as He brings judgment against Edom:
Why is your apparel red,
and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?
“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;
their lifeblood spattered on my garments,
and stained all my apparel.
Now the robe of the Conquering Christ has been dipped in blood as He goes about the business of judgment.
There is more Isaiah 63 language in verse 15 as Jesus is referred to as the One who is treading the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
In ancient times, grapes were harvested and then placed into a container of wood or stone.
This was the treading floor
Then the workers would stomp on the grapes barefoot, allowing the juice to flow out of the grapes and into a basin
This is the picture of judgment that God is giving us in this passage.
If you will remember, back in chapter 14, there were two harvests.
There was a wheat harvest that referred to believers.
And then there was a grape harvest in reference to unbelievers
And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Here is chapter 19, the Lord has removed His warrior sandals and He is treading the grapes.
This is a heavy picture of judgment.
And then, in verse 15, we see that He will rule the nations with a rod of iron.
This is promised to the Messiah in Psalm 2:8-9
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
He will shatter the rebellious nations of the earth in judgment.
Each nation will have representation in the Kingdom.
Jesus promised He would not return until there are believers from every people group
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
But each nation will also have representation in the lot of goats that receive His Final judgment of wrath.
And when Jesus comes against them in judgment, He will right every wrong and bring justice for every horrible deed.
This is why you and I do not take vengeance into our own hands as believers.
We trust in the Lord to bring vengeance in the end.
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
God purposed for Adam to rule the world.
He failed. He broke covenant with God.
And his transgression brought death into the world and all of humanity fell with him.
But God had a plan to glorify Himself by sending His Son, the Second Adam, to uphold the covenant that the first Adam failed in.
Jesus never sinned.
And then He died on the Cross, bearing the sins of the nations, and rose again and ascended on high.
And then He will return and receive the inheritance that the Father promised to Him.
He will shatter the rebellious nations and then the Second Adam will fulfill the purpose that the First Adam could not—He will rule the world.
And all who love Him, will bow their knee and rejoice in the reign of their King forever.
THE FINAL BATTLE (v. 14, 17-21)
THE FINAL BATTLE (v. 14, 17-21)
And then, finally, we see the the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in action in the final battle.
He has the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, following Him on white horses (v. 14).
Some believe these are angels, but I think these are Christians. It is you all. The Church Triumphant.
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
This is the Bride, riding with her Groom to battle.
His victory will be her victory.
There is an angel standing in the sun calling out to the birds who fly overhead in verse 17.
He is giving out a dinner invitation.
It is the second dinner invitation that we have seen in Revelation 19.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
But this one is not for people, but birds of death.
He calls on the vultures to circle up in order to feast on the flesh of kings, captains, mighty men, horses and their riders and the flesh of all men.
Free and slave, great and small.
Anyone who has planted their feet in opposition to to the King of Kings.
Anyone who opposes His rightful Messianic rule
This invitation to the birds is anticipating the victory of Christ.
Usually birds gather when someone or something is dead or dying
Here, they are invited before the battle even takes place.
The battle’s fate has been sealed from before time and there’s no chance that it goes any way but victory for Christ and defeat for His opposition.
The angel’s words are reminiscent of what David said to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:46
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
Jesus is the better David, coming to slay all of His enemies
In verse 19, we see the final battle taking place.
The beast is there—representing every evil nation state that has ever opposed the church and persecuted the Lord’s Bride
All the kings who have aligned with the beast are there
They have swords drawn, ready to take on the King and His army
This is Armageddon. This is the final war.
And it was prophesied by Ezekiel.
“As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan. And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord God.
This comes in a prophecy against Gog and Magog
When we get another angle of this final battle in chapter 20, those names are used explicitly:
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.
Only in chapter 20, the beast, the false prophet AND the Dragon are tossed into the Lake of Fire.
But here in chapter 19, it is just the beast and the false prophet.
They are thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur (v. 20)
This is eternal Hell.
Notice that there really is no battle.
The battle lines are drawn and then the beast and his antichrist mouthpiece are thrown into the lake of fire alive.
That’s it—it’s over before it starts.
All the rest—the kings of the earth and those who dwell on the earth, who oppose the Lord of Lords, they are slain by the Word of the King and the birds eat—just as Ezekiel promised.
And that is it.
The seven years of tribulation have come to an end.
The three and a half days are over.
The three and a half years—the forty-two months—the 1260 days have drawn to a close.
The age of witness is over.
The seals have been opened.
The trumpets have sounded.
The bowls have been poured out.
It is the end.
The sixth cycle is over.
We have one set of replays left to see before the Lord shows us our eternal home.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
The Faithful and True
The Word of God
The Incomprehensible, Authoritative Messiah
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords
These are the written and called names of the One seated on the White Horse
Are His names your tower of refuge?
Do you run to Him and find safety?
Many will seek refuge in the different names of that Satan offers as counterfeit shelters
Come submit to the beast
Come bow down to Caesar as Lord so that you can buy and sell in the marketplace
Come listen to the False Prophet, who performs signs and wonders and deceived people into taking the mark
Come eat up the worldly philosophies that promise freedom and only deliver bondage
Come get in bed with Babylon
She will love you as long as you pay with your soul
But in the end, all of these names will be destroyed by fire and the Word of the Lord.
There is no shelter here in what the Dragon offers
The only shelter to be found is in the name of the Lord.
Run to Him.
Turn from your sin and believe in the name of Christ.
Submit to His Word
Submit to Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords
He will be Faithful and True to you, unto the end