Revelation 19, Jesus returning, the rider on the white horse. We strategically designed this to be the same day as the great battle on the gridiron. Just kidding. It had nothing to do with that. One of our number was texting me some of the parallels between the Super Bowl and Armageddon. This person shall remain anonymous, although his last name begins with S and it ends with Tricklin. I'm sorry, Ryan. He pointed out that Kansas is on a great plane and the army is assembled for Armageddon on a great plane. That Jesus wears a robe dipped in blood and Patrick Mahone wears a red jersey. That Jesus rides a white horse and Taylor Swift has a song called White Horse, which I don't know how he knows that. It is indeed complicated, yes. That the chiefs are some of the kings on the earth and the eagles are called to devour their flesh. Is that a prediction? Maybe, I don't know. Any comparison is laughable. And that actually is the point. They cannot be compared. The difference is, it's just, it's ludicrous to think that there's any connection. Of course there isn't. Because the return of Jesus is entirely different than anything that we could possibly celebrate and be excited about or participate in here on earth. I think there is some shadow aspect to it. In other words, one of the reasons that we like those kinds of competitions is because we are yearning for that great day when ultimately Jesus will come back and will defeat all that is wicked and wrong in this world and will establish justice and righteousness and peace. And so we long for that inherently. We long for that intrinsically. That becomes something that we seek and desire. You know, when we were working our way through this passage, I have tried to point out that really the last chapters of Revelation is either an elevation of the great prostitute, Babylon, or the bride of Christ. And so it's really a a contrast between two pictures from that standpoint. And as we approach the return of the king, our temptation is to think of the return of the king as part of the Bride of Christ story. It's really part of the other story. Now, don't get me wrong. It's part of both stories. But it's being told from the perspective of what's going to happen to the dragon, the beast, and those who follow the beast. And that's where we find the story, that's where we find it told, is that the return of the king is really a return of Jesus to establish control over the world, to set up his kingdom, and to destroy all enemies. And so it's put in that context. We, as believers, rejoice at the return of Jesus, but it's presented to us in a very serious, challenging piece, right? John has been invited to look at the marriage feast of the Lamb, and now the angel is going to show him a completely different banquet. It's grisly. It's horrific. And that contrast is intended to be startling. He wants us to be shocked, to be like, man, we don't want any part of that. That's exactly what he wants us to feel. is to say we need to make certain that we are following the lamb and not the beast. And so all of this apocalyptic literature, it's creating these massive contrasts and these images ought to be just firing in our mind as we see this image of the lamb that was slain and the image of this beast that is unnatural. And you have all of these images that are just pouring into us and it's giving us a sense of like, okay, Who are we going to worship? Who are we going to follow? Now maybe you've received an invitation in the mail for a wedding. and your heart just thrilled because you were so excited for these two people that you know and you love. And then for you to be a part of that celebration and you were excited to be a part of that wedding. And so you got a hold of that invitation to a marriage and it just thrilled your heart, right? Have you been there? Where it's like, man, this is awesome. I'm excited about this. Maybe you could compare that to receiving in the mail a summons to court. Or you get a letter and it says on there, you are being audited. And you're just like, ah, no. I can't believe this is happening. You're like, this is like horrific. It's not something I'm looking forward to. And it's just, it's this contrast. And that's what we're given here in John, right? It's like, here's an invitation to the marriage feast of the lamb. And then it's like, here's an invitation to the banquet of the dead. And it's like, yeah, what a contrast that we're given in very few verses. And I think part of what John is calling us to recognize is it's like, which one will you receive? Because it's not based on merit. You won't receive the one because you've deserved it. You won't receive the other because you deserved it. The truth is that it's, the question is, who are you following? The issue is, who do you worship? Because whoever you worship, you will receive a banquet for that person. If it's the lamb, it's the marriage feast of the lamb. If it's the beast, it's the banquet for the beast. And that's the picture that we're giving. It's entirely sobering. Eugene Peterson, he put it this way, he said, salvation is the intimacies and the festivities of marriage. Salvation is aggressive battle and the defeat of evil. Salvation is neither of these things by itself, it is the two energies, the embrace of love and the assault on evil in polar tension, each defined by the other, each feeding into the other. And I think he's doing a great job of capturing the tension of this passage, because it's combining both aspects. And so we feel both of that. And so as we work our way through the passage, we want to worship the king. And we want to worship the king because of his character, and then we want to worship the king because of his conduct. It begins in verse 11 by this very simple statement, Then I saw the heaven open. And it's a startling thing to think about. The only thing holding the event that we're about to read about from taking place is God himself. Jesus stands ready. And when God opens up heaven and he allows Jesus to come forth, it will all end. And so God sits presently in a position of power, patiently working in the hearts of men and women to do what? To call people to himself in repentance so that he can save them from themselves. And this, dear friend, is why he waits. This is why it has not already happened. 2 Peter 3, verse number eight, he says, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but he is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Why hasn't it happened? because God wants more people to come to him in salvation. That's exactly why. 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 in it will be exposed. You know, it's easy to forget that such is the case, isn't it? In the midst of all of our busyness, in the midst of our weekly progress, and then we gather together and we look at scripture and we're reminded that this is reality. Truthfully, all we have to do is look up to heaven and engage our minds, use our imagination, see with our eyes of faith and not our eyes of sight. He is coming, and he's coming soon. He's coming soon. So let's begin looking at this passage and worship the king, first of all because of his character. All of the emphasis on Christ in Revelation has been upon Let me say that differently. All of the evidence that we see in Revelation about Jesus, all the passages that talk about him being a conquering ram or the lamb that was slain, the warrior, the divine warrior, all of them culminate in this passage that we have before us. Revelation chapter 19, we'll begin in verse 11, just read down through verse 13 to begin with. He says, then I saw the heaven open, 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's clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. We begin by considering his character. First of all, we see that Jesus is faithful. We know what it is like to be faithless. And because we know what it is like to be faithless, we have a better understanding of what it is to be faithful. In other words, I would suggest not one of us in here would say, I know what it is like to be faithful because I am the epitome of that. We would say, I know what it is like to be faithful because I recognize all of the times that I try to be and I can't. And that's really the basis of our understanding of what faithful looks like. We are very aware of our own failures in that regard. We know what that is like, but yet we look to Jesus and we can see what it is like to be completely faithful. You know, when we find other people around us, that are faithful in ways that we might find challenging, we admire them. We call that person faithful. We call them blessed. It's because we know what it's like to want to be faithful in the same way. But Jesus is not like us. He is completely and entirely faithful. He is true. And his appearance here at the end of history is another demonstration of his faithfulness. He is going to show up, and he's going to be true to his word, to himself and to others. I was thinking about this, and there's a lot of these different points, so I'm not going to illustrate all of them, because we will not have time. But as I was thinking about this, I was reminded of my own faithlessness. What was a time that I can use, I can beat up on myself about when I was faithless? And so I came up with a moderate example because I don't want to expose myself so deeply. I don't want to start breaking down and crying in front of you all. So I settled on a moderate example. Jeremy Zycheck, many of you know Jeremy. Jeremy had asked me to come and speak at a teacher in service in South Dakota. And I put it on my calendar, and then I forgot about it. And he texted me the week before, he said, hey, looking forward to you coming. And I'm like, me too. And then I'm like, when was that? And then I'm looking and it's like, I was supposed to go down that night before, and then I would stay overnight, have a delightful time with this iCheck family, and do some of those in-service things. And it was like, I scheduled something else that night before. I can't make it down that night before. And so then it's like, well, I'm going to have to get up early in the morning and drive early so that I can show up on time and do the in-service. And so I'm texting Jeremy. I'm like, I'm really sorry. And he's gracious. And so that's what I had to do. And so then here's the ludicrous part. So then I patted myself on the back for making it work, for being faithless. And you'd say, well, but you've made it work. Do you see what you did there, though? You're so used to us failing that you will make excuses for me, just like I did. Because if I was truly faithful, I would not have forgotten that. And I would have ordered my schedule accordingly. And you say, yeah, but you're just human. You're just human. And I would say, but that's exactly my point, right? Jesus is not like that. Too busy. I don't schedule things properly. I am not as faithful as I should be in all areas of my life. And that's a true statement, isn't it? And you say, OK, but then you shift and you adjust. And it's like, yeah, and that's what we all do. But I'm simply pointing out what Jesus is, is entirely different. Entirely different. That he is completely and entirely faithful. He is the faithful and true one. He is also righteous. Look at this verse. There is such a thing as a just war. It is a war that is based upon the upholding of this righteous standard. And what is the righteous standard? Well, that righteous standard is not an arbitrary thing. capricious, right? It doesn't depend upon the will and the whim of whoever is sovereign. A righteous standard is constant and fair. Now I want to be careful here. There is not a standard that stands outside of Jesus. So I don't want us to think about this as like there is somehow some righteous standard that exists and it exists in this kind of you know, ethereal or mystical or theoretical form, and then Jesus conforms to the standard. That's to say, if we approach it that way, that there's some sort of standard that governs everything that God does. And that would mean that he is submitting to a standard outside of himself, but that's not God. God is, in fact, the standard. He's the one that set up. What do we know what righteousness is? By looking at Him. And as we look at Him, we see the standard. He is the standard. And so I'm not trying to say that He submits to the standard. He rather establishes the standard. We know what righteousness is because we see it in the life of Jesus. That's how righteous He is. That is an unbelievable concept to me. In righteousness, he judges. He says, I will be righteous because I am always true to myself. Can we just recognize that God cannot, and I'm gonna use a double negative, right? God cannot not be righteous. That he has to be righteous. It is his character. He cannot deny himself. He must judge rightly. And so if we could imagine a judge that is righteous, we're only trying to imagine a judge that gets as close to Jesus as possible. But what if Jesus himself could judge? And I would say that's what's coming. And can you imagine a world run by Jesus? That's what's coming. It truly will be glorious. He is faithful, he is righteous, and he is judge. As we saw there, it says in righteousness he judges, but then look at verse number 12. It says his eyes are like a flame of fire. The background to that, we looked at this flame of fire when we were looking at the picture of Jesus all the way back in the beginning of Revelation as well. But this flame of fire, the idea there is that his eyes are like a raging fire. It's the idea that his eyes have a penetrating vision by which he discerns everything, and that they also are a fiery judgment by which he will bring about righteousness or judgment through his discernment. And so that's the picture that we're given. The background is the vision of the Son of Man in Daniel chapter number 10. And so that's the background. We see it as well in Revelation. But when we see his eyes are like a flame of fire, that's what we should be thinking about. It is a discerning and a judging view, right? That's the concept that it's laying out. It also points out that Jesus is king. Again, in verse number 12, his eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. The diadems, right, that is a form of the crown. There are two crowns in Revelation. There is the Stephanus, that's the victor's wreath. There is then the diadem, and that is the crown of authority. It's the crown worn by the dragon, by the beast, worn by Christ. Jesus here wears many diadems because it's emphasizing his authority. You know, we've seen the contrast in Revelation between Christ and the false trinity, and that becomes very evident again and again and again. And here, Satan is again the great pretender. He's imitating God, right? He's imitating Christ. By having his beast, the Antichrist, wear different crowns, he is imitating this, Jesus, as the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one who is wearing many diadems. And we also see this later in the passage. Pastor Bernie also referred to this one, Revelation 19.16. And you can look there in your Bibles. I didn't put this up on the screen. But Revelation 19.16, it says, on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And you say, tattoo? Is that a tattoo for Jesus? And I would say, don't get too excited. It could be, it could be. Or it could be written on that part of his tunic that covers his thigh, which is where his sword would rest and where it would be very conspicuous on a mounted warrior. The tattoo would probably be covered, it would not be as clearly seen. If it was written upon the tunic that covered his thigh, then people would see it as he is riding his white horse. So likely, it's that. I don't mean to burst any bubbles. If you are saying that is the basis for me getting a tattoo and you've destroyed my argument to my parents or whomever, I'm sorry for that. It probably is more likely that, because the point is, for it to be seen, that's the point, right? Is that people would look and see king of kings, lord of lords. It is making the case for who he is. He is the king. So Jesus is faithful, righteous, judge, king. He's also holy. The last part of verse 12, he has a name written that no one knows but himself. You say, what do we mean by holy? Think about holy in this sense as being set apart. Now let me be clear, this is debated. Some would say this new name is Yahweh. And you would say, well, how is Yahweh a new name? Well, that's part of the debate. Some would say it is a name that we just don't know. Others would say it's the name of Jesus that isn't actually new. It's just new in meaning and relationship inherent to it. But I think the point, I believe the point is different here. I think the point here is that Jesus is so far above others that we don't even know His name. In other words, it's stated in such a way for us to feel the otherness, for us to feel the holiness, for us to feel the separation, that to know somebody is to know their name. To know their name is to know somebody. If you do not even know their name, you do not know them. They are that holy. In other words, to know someone's name is to have some measure of power over them. Have you ever heard that used before? But that's the idea that it's talking about. In other words, if I do not know even his full name, or to say it differently, his true name, that is to say, I don't know him well. And Jesus is of the kind of being that nobody knows him that well, because he is holy. And so he has a name that no one knows but himself. Why? Well, to say it very bluntly, because we can't handle it. Because we're not holy enough. Because he is too holy for us, legitimately. Not just trying to say that to cause somebody to feel badly about themselves. It actually is true. He has a name that is far above every other name. He is holy and he is retribution. He is retribution. Look at verse number 11 through verse number 13. It says he is clothed in a robe dripped, or verse number 13, you don't have to look at verse number 11 and 12. Verse number 13, he is clothed in a robe dripped in blood. And the name by which he is called is the word of God, a robe. dipped in blood. You say, is the blood from Jesus? Is this about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus? It could be. Is it about the blood of the martyrs? Remember Revelation 6, so many martyrs that were killed? It could be. Or is it the blood of his enemies? Well, all three are viable on a certain level, but I would suggest that the context really demands that this is the blood of the enemies. Because Jesus is coming here, to execute judgment. He is going to tread out the winepress of the wrath of God. We're like, Jesus comes back and the very next thing that happens is Armageddon, where all of the nations that have gathered to oppose him will be killed. And so the robe that's dipped in blood here, this is his robe that's dipped in the blood of his enemies. The analogy, it's reflecting Isaiah 63, verse 1 through 3. It says, Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimson garments from Bezarah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? It is I. speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. 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 splattered on my garments and stained all my apparel." Brutal stuff. But yeah, that's exactly what Armageddon is all about. Jesus is coming with his armies in order to destroy his enemies, and their blood will splatter up upon his robe. This is Jesus not coming to save people from their sin. This is Jesus coming to punish people in their sin. That is the return of the king. Jesus is retribution. He is also the word of God. Again, that verse 13. It says, he's clothed in a robe, dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. Now, there's a striking parallel here. This is John, and when we think of the Word of God, we think of Logos, and when we think of John and the Gospel of John, and so we go, okay, is that connected? John chapter one, verse one through 14. This is the only place in the New Testament where Christ is called the Word of God. which is kind of striking. But the meaning is different here. Because it's not so much the living revealer, which is like the word of God in John, right? In John, the logos is the idea that Jesus is the revealer of God, that Jesus exegetes God, that Jesus is the one who helps us to see God more clearly. He's the word of God in that sense. But when he's talking about the word of God here, it's different. It's the authoritative, word of God. So here Jesus proclaims the judgment of God. He gives the command for carrying out the judgment. It's not about revealing God. It's about executing judgment. So all of these terms, faithful, righteous, judge, king, holy, retribution, the word of God. This is the king in his character. But let's then consider the king in his conduct. Verse number 14 and 15. It says, So these are actions that Jesus takes. The first action is that he leads armies. These are heavenly armies. Likely, those reading would have thought of angelic armies based upon their knowledge of the Old Testament. They probably would have thought about the armies of heaven. However, we need to remember Revelation 17-14 that refers to believers as part of that army. So likely then, the heavenly army would consist of both angels and glorified believers. I would suggest from my view and understanding of Revelation, that this, in fact, would be us. You'd say, how do you know this is us? If you're a believer, then I believe the next thing that happens on the calendar of end times is the rapture. And so you will be called out to join Jesus in the air. And you will be forever with the Lord. And then what occurs next? Well, the marriage feast of the Lamb, right? And Jesus is gonna return. With who? You. And so I would suggest that what we find here in Revelation 19 is we find us. We find us with Jesus as part of that army coming back for the battle of Armageddon, that we will join with the angels. Now you could ask the question, will we fight? When the armies of the Antichrist gather for battle, the sword that comes out of Christ's mouth talks about that battle being over in an instant, and we're going to look at that passage. But Revelation chapter 2 verse 26 to 27 says that victors will be given authority to rule the nations with a rod of iron, to shatter them like pottery, and that same verse, that same image is used of Christ. So it would seem that in the same way, saints and angels, believers, you and I and angels will participate in the destruction of the evil forces. So do I think that we will fight in that battle? And I would say, yeah, I think I do. I mean, I hold that pretty loosely, but I think we'll fight in that battle. I think we will actually participate in the actual battle. We'll continue to look at that. He leads armies, he strikes nations. This is the second action that he has, verse 14. It says, 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. It's not hard to imagine what that sharp sword is for, right? With which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. that rod of iron. So we have two images here, the sharp sword and the rod of iron. They really portray the same actions. The sword, it's easy for us to understand. The rod of iron builds off of Psalm chapter 2 verse 9, where it talks about how the Messiah will rule the nations with an iron scepter. I had mentioned it just a few moments before. It says that he will dash them to pieces like pottery. So the iron scepter, think of the shepherd's club, but don't think of the shepherd's club that was used to direct the sheep. Think of the shepherd's club that was used to battle the animals. That's the rod of iron. It was the shepherd's club that the shepherd would use to attack the wolf that was attacking the sheep. That's what he's talking about. That's the rod of iron. That's the image that we are given. The shepherding at that point is not in the care of the sheep. It's in the destruction of the foes. And that's what he's talking about. He is coming to destroy the enemies of the sheep. And he brings his armies with him. He leads armies. He strikes nations. He tramples enemies. Revelation verse 14 and 15 continues. The armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, following him in 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 Almighty. We already saw the image from Isaiah 63. Here it is in full force. The wine press is a terrible image of judgment. The nations are trampled to such an extent that if we go all the way back to Revelation 14, we would see that the blood flows as high as the horse's bridles. And so if you can imagine what that battle will look like in Armageddon, it'll turn your stomach, right? But yet these are all the enemies of God. His wrath that has been stored up against all the rebellion of all time is being poured out. And the shedding of their blood will be just payment for how they shed the blood of those who followed the Lamb. They killed the Lamb, and they killed the followers of the Lamb, and they will not stop. And Jesus says, enough. And he ends their life. And we say, is that justice? Is that worth celebrating? That is worth celebrating. If you've been ever on a playground and you see a kid bullying another kid, and within you dwells up, rises up that desire to enforce justice, yeah, whatever's happening out there, that's what we're talking about right now. And that justice rises up within you, and you're like, I want to do what is right, and if that means somebody is punished, then somebody needs to get punished. That is this a thousand times magnified. Where Jesus ultimately says, enough is enough. Now consider. You know, we've discussed this a couple of times here in Revelation. The wrath of God must be satisfied. It must be spent. Someone has to face the wrath of God. And that person is either Jesus, who takes that wrath upon himself, it's either that, or it's Jesus executing the wrath of God. It is one or the other. And friends, that is why it is so crucial for us, what a mission we have, to be able to go out and to share with those who are lost and following Satan, the dragon, the Antichrist, the beast, the false prophet, they've been deceived by them, and for us to share that message and say, listen, Jesus is coming soon, and you need to turn to follow the Lamb. Because if you do not do that, there is no return from that. You must be saved from your own sin. And for someone to feel the weight of that, to fear the fear, to feel the fear of that is crucial. It's important. Because they need to understand that they must be saved. They need to understand that they are lost. They need to understand that without Christ, they will die. And friends, you and I must be burdened by that. We must rejoice that we've escaped from that, but in that rejoicing, we ought to be burdened that others have not. And we've been given the opportunity to share that message, to tell others to turn to Christ. He leads armies, he strikes nations, he tramples enemies, he wins the war. We're gonna read the last part of this section, verse 17 through 21. It says, Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead. Think carrion animals, right, vultures, eagles. 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 the riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great." You say, what language? Why does he use such language? And again, he's creating the contrast, the marriage feast of the lamb or this banquet. You're gonna follow the lamb, you're gonna follow the beast. And he's painting the picture in a very visceral manner. Verse 19, and I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who is 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 worshipped its image. So he's building the argument of why this is just. The beast and false prophet have deceived the nations. And so because of that, they're going to be captured, and what happens? These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. If you're an annihilationist, you believe that people just cease to exist, I think you have a hard time with that last part of that verse. 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. So at the same time, as the evil forces gather for Armageddon, the carrion birds are called to gather for the aftermath of that inevitable slaughter. And when the angel invites them to that banquet, we are considering those two great messianic banquets. And the only difference is who will you follow. This is truly the day of the Lord, as prophesied through the Old Testament. That's why it's probable that there is a battle here. I think it's omitted to emphasize the absolute superiority of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. In other words, if the battle is described in detail, I think it diminishes the idea that the victory is certain. That if it talks about how the armies will actually fight, you almost get the impression that The armies of the beast might actually win, but that isn't the case. And so in order to make it very clear, it is shortened and it's omitted and it simply says, the sword will come out and they will be struck. That ultimately they will simply lose the battle. But what we need to not forget is that this is a cautionary tale. We're still following the story of the dragon and all those who follow his lies. The focus on the Bride of Christ is still pending. And so as we consider this cautionary tale, let's just think through some application. First of all, we need to be grateful. We need to be grateful for Christ in our lives. That if we look at the simple act of following Jesus is enough to save us From all of that, it is so humbling, and we ought to stir up within us that sense of gratitude. We need to warn people, as I talked about already. We need to be willing to speak this into people's lives, to help them see that this is true. We need to be witnesses of this. We need to not be deceived. Because the world around us wants us to think that what we see with our eyes is what's most important, but it is not. And we must fight that. We need to stand strong in our faith. We need to recognize that this battle is already won, and so we need to act like the victors now. We need to be confident. I'm not fearful about what might come. but confident in that which is certain. We need to walk in wisdom and compassion. that we would put ourselves into the position of those people that are around us because God has opened our eyes through his word to what is coming, but they do not know these truths. And so we ought to look at life from their vantage point. And from their vantage point, we ought to feel compassion for them. We ought to desire to reach into their lives. The King is coming. And as we consider his coming, It ought to change how we live.