Christ on a White Horse - Revelation 19:11-16

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible.

Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. Well, this week we are looking at Christ on a white horse. So we're talking about the glorious appearing of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, which is by far the most exciting event in all of Bible prophecy. I find it interesting today when I look at people in the world and how people get so excited about certain things. I see people when the Super Bowl is approaching and they start several weeks out with the countdown and they're counting down the weeks and the days and the hours and the minutes.

And there's just around the clock coverage as they're looking forward to this big game. And then I see when it comes to basketball games, the big rivalry games and how people mark their calendars and they are looking forward to that event. And maybe it's a vacation or maybe it's a wedding day, but people have things that they are excited about and things that they are looking forward to.

Maybe it's the premiere of a movie, but everybody has something that they are excited about. But how many today are excited about the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ? Because all Christians should be looking forward to that day when our Lord will be truly glorified. Now, we can't count it down in the sense of the way we can do for events in which the date has already been set, because the Bible says no one knows the day of the hour. We don't know exactly when our Lord is going to return to this earth.

But what we do know is that he will come back again and he when he comes back is going to greatly contrast his first coming because in his first coming, he came humbly being born in a manger with smelly animals in a feeding trough. He allowed himself to be abused. He allowed himself to be spat on.

He allowed himself to be falsely accused. And then he was crucified by his own creation. He did it out of his love for us so that we might have the opportunity for eternal life. But it's going to be quite different when he comes back the second time because the Bible says he's going to arrive in power and great glory. So as we come today to Revelation chapter 19, we're transitioning when we come to this Christ on a white horse text. So we look at verse 10 of Revelation 19, it says, And I fell at his feet to worship him. This is a transition verse between the marriage supper, the lamb that we looked at previously and the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. And we find that the apostle John, being overwhelmed by the vision, he he falls before the angel to worship him. But the angel rebukes him with see that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant.

Worship God. In the resurrection, Christians will evidently be equal with the angels. And this command to worship God coincides with the first of the Ten Commandments.

We see it in Exodus Chapter 20, verse three. You shall have no other gods before me. The deity of Jesus Christ is clearly established in scripture. He is the only person in the Bible who freely receive worship without rebuke.

There are people out there who question the deity of Christ. They say, well, he was a man. He's the the son of God.

He's only a man. Yes, he is the son of God, but the son meaning he is God in the flesh. He is God manifested as a human being. And so he was fully man and fully God at the same time. And we see evidence of that in the scripture because he was worshiped on 10 different occasions in the New Testament.

And not once did he rebuke those who did so. But every time we see someone fall before an angel, the angel says, do not worship me. Worship God. But Jesus received the worship because he is God. That tenth verse of Revelation 19 goes on to state for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So whether human or angelic, true servants of God work toward the testimony of Jesus. And we find that this prophecy receives its value and its meaning from its relation to Jesus Christ. Now, there are times in which all of us make errors in interpretation, and we may make some mistakes when it comes to the details. But there should be no error in understanding that the purpose and direction of prophecy points to Jesus Christ.

That's what it's all about. And thus, the prophetic teaching should warm the hearts of us, just like it did in Luke chapter 24, verse 32, when they they were walking along and they said, did our hearts not warm within us? And so when we look at the study of Revelation, it should cause our hearts to burn within us. So I want you to turn your Bibles with me to Revelation chapter 19. We're going to begin today with verse 11. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for your word. It is my prayer, Lord, that all things that are spoken, that it be nothing but sound doctrine. And may you be honored and glorified in all things in your name. Jesus.

Amen. Revelation Chapter 19, verse 11, the text reads as follows. Now I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true.

And in righteousness, he judges and makes war. This glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, again, the most exciting event in all of Bible prophecy, and the quality that makes prophecy a literary masterpiece is its unusual simplicity. So what I mean by that is this verse is a simple introduction to the grand climax of the ages, because for thousands of years, it has been the father's plan that Jesus Christ reign over all the earth and all things there on.

And so being such a climatic event that all things that are pointing to everything is building towards this. There are numerous references to the return of Christ throughout scripture. We find in the book of Isaiah Chapter 63, verses one through six, we find here that Jesus is going to first go to Edom when he returns, where many Israelites will have fled from the Antichrist to defeat the enemies of Israel.

He's described as wearing red garments, which represents his vengeance that he's going to have. He's going to come back with vengeance. Jesus Christ is going to come back to bring judgment upon those who have rejected him. He's going to come back to bring judgment upon those who advocate for the taking of the life of the unborn. He's coming back to bring judgment upon those who claim to be believers in him, but yet refuse to speak up and to speak out when it comes to the unborn. Jesus Christ is coming back.

He's wearing this red garments and he has his vengeance because all who have rejected God's mercy, which is through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, they are going to receive his wrath. We find in Matthew Chapter 24, the Olivet Discourse, verses 27 through 31. This is an excerpt again from the Olivet Discourse, which predicts that his coming will be attended by signs and natural phenomena. The Bible says the sun, the moon and the stars will not give light. It's all attention will be focused on the son of man in the sky, coming with power and great glory. So just imagine for a moment, if you can, what this moment will be like. This will be a time in which the Bible says that the stars, the moon, the sun will not give light.

So the entire earth will be in total darkness. But then at that point, Jesus Christ is going to come in the sky. The Bible says he's coming in power and great glory, and his glory is going to illuminate the entire universe. And everyone will be able to see him as he comes back to claim his earthly kingdom. And then the second installment of the rapture will occur when his elect are gathered up to him at his second coming. We find in the book of Psalm Chapter 50, verses one through six, that Jesus is above the earth, but below heaven. It says he's looking down to the earth, but then he looks back up to heaven. So he's looking back up to heaven and he raptures the tribulation saints. That is those who are alive on earth and the souls of those under the altar in heaven. We find that in Revelation Chapter six, and this will likely include the Old Testament saints as well as our Lord gathers up the saints to him at his coming.

We find in the book of Jude, verses 14 and 15, this is the only passage of the Bible that states that Enoch was a prophet. And God revealed to him that Christ will come with myriads of holy ones to execute judgment on mankind. And this judgment will begin with Antichrist, as spoken of in Second Thessalonians Chapter two, verses seven through 10. We find more evidence of the second coming of our great Lord in the book of Zechariah Chapter 14, verses three through five. I'm not reading through all the verses for the sake of time, but just make a note of these verses that I'm sharing with you, as we see in this text that Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, and he's going to return to the same location in the same manner as the angels prophesied in Acts Chapter one, verse 11.

This is when his feet are going to touch down. And the scripture says the mount will be split in two when our Lord comes back with great power and great glory. And there are actually geological reports that states that there is a fault line that runs under the Mount of Olives and that the slightest earthquake can cause it to split. But how many know that Jesus does not need a fault line?

Because if our Lord wants the earth to split, he's going to split. His power is going to be manifested when he comes back. Now, the term glorious appearing does not appear in the Book of Revelation, but we get it from Titus Chapter two, verse 13. The text there tells us looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the physical, visible return of our Lord to the earth. Contrasting the blessed hope, which is the rapture of the church, when we are caught up to meet him.

One is before the tribulation, the other at the end of the tribulation. And John here for the second time, he sees heaven open the first time was in Chapter four, verse one of Revelation. And so he had the first time was invited up to heaven, but this time heaven opens so that the white horse rider exits. So this is not the same white horse rider of Revelation Chapter six, verse two, which is antichrist. But here we see our great Lord Jesus Christ, who is the faithful and true witness. And the Bible says that he is coming again in power and great glory. He's coming to judge. He's coming to make war with antichrist and with all the followers of antichrist who has rejected our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He's coming back, folks, with vengeance. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel.

Just to name a few. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our Web store. So please visit us at Godfirst.org. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's message. The description of Jesus Christ is in contrast to the unfaithful deceivers, antichrist and Satan. Our Lord has always been faithful. He is always faithful, faithfully fulfill all of his prophecies. Second Peter three eight suggests that a promise of God given a thousand years ago. Is as though we're given yesterday because God, the Bible says to him, a thousand years.

Is as one day. And so believers today, we can accept his faithfulness by faith. But one day everybody will see the tangible evidence of his faithfulness. Christ is truth. Satan is a lie. Christ is the true way to God. Satan is the way to hell. And so today, folks, come to Christ. That is the only way by which you can receive eternal life. He already paid the same debt at Calvary. He already died on the cross.

So come to him today. Profess him as Lord and Savior. Confess your sins. Repent and turn away and come to Jesus.

So that you might inherit eternal life because the only other outcome will be with Satan in eternal damnation. And so, again, this great contrast between the first and second coming of Jesus as fulfillment of Zechariah, chapter nine, verse nine, Jesus entered Jerusalem on a lowly beast of burden at his first coming. But now he's coming on the white horse, which displays his power, which displays his glory. And some may find the idea of horses in heaven is strange.

But Second Kings Chapter two, verse 11 and Second Kings Chapter six, 13 through 17, all reference horses and chariots of fire in heaven. And then we see our Lord as the righteous judge. He will come in righteousness to judge the earth on the basis of what it has done concerning him.

On the basis of have you received him as Lord and Savior? He will be the righteous warrior. As this world has known nothing but war since it rejected God, the father and son, Jesus Christ. We found in World War One that the total deaths was 40 million.

World War Two, the total deaths was 60 million. But the war that Christ will bring will be a righteous one. It'll be a one battle war where he will consume all who stand in his opposition, where he comes back again to claim his earthly throne, when he will come with power and glory to be honored in the way that he so rightfully deserves. Revelation 19, 12 reads, His eyes were like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns.

He had a name written that no one knew except himself. So the eyes of Jesus will be like a flame of fire. His eyes of fire indicate that he will judge according to the truth. Unlike mankind, who has limited knowledge, the all seeing eye of Christ will reveal all truth of all individuals and all nations, every thought, every act.

Jesus is going to judge. The many crowns that we find here. Of our Lord are symbolic of the fact that Christ will come in great authority. And we find throughout history that a crown has symbolized authority. We we find that kings wore crowns. We find even today that popes wear a triple crown and in the kingdom of Antichrist is represented by crowns. And then we find that the 10 kings of the tribulation will have crowns. But when Christ returns, all power will be given to him as the king of all kings.

And we see his three fold nature on full display as judge, warrior and king. And then it says he had a name written that no one knew except himself, and many have speculated about this name. You know, the Bible. Names reveal the nature of the person, and many names reveal the character of God. However, with Jesus being divine, some aspects of his nature are likely incomprehensible to our finite minds that we have today. But it says he's going to have a name written that no one knew except himself. And then in verse 13, it says, and he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God. Now, that blood could be an indication of the bloodshed caused by the Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty, or it may be a reference to his blood at Calvary, which allows us to be washed clean, the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

The power, the blood that redeems all to righteousness, if you would just receive his gift. The Apostle John is the only New Testament writer to use the term the word of God to describe Jesus. It comes from the Greek word logos and literally means the expression of God. And just as humans reveal thoughts to one another through words, we talk, we communicate with one another to reveal things to one another. Jesus Christ, the word of God reveals God the father to us. John 1 18 lets us know that if we want to know about the father, then study the son. It tells us there no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father.

He has declared him. And that is why Jesus said, if you have seen me, you've seen the father again. Jesus Christ is God. He is God. The father manifested in flesh.

So that he could come to the earth to become like us to die for us so that we might have eternal life. Verse 14 of Revelation 19 and the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. So the angelic host, the Old Testament saints, the church and the tribulation saints, they are going to comprise this army. And when we think about militaries today, men in battle, they they wear fatigued uniforms for camouflage and for the dirtiness of battle. But our commander in chief, our great Lord is going to dress his army in white.

So this is unheard of. But he's going to dress us in white to demonstrate how we now have the righteousness of him and to demonstrate that we won't even have to get dirty. We're not even going to have to fight because our Lord is going to speak a word and it's all going to be over.

All of his enemies will be defeated. So don't overlook the message in this, that no member of the army of Christ will engage in battle. And we will see why in the next verse in verse 15. Now, out of his mouth goes a sharp sword that with it he should strike the nations and he himself will rule them with the rod of iron.

He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. So the battle would be consummated by the spoken word of our Lord. And some believe this is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God spoken of in Ephesians, chapter six, verse 17. And it is used symbolically here to represent a sharp instrument of war with which Christ will smite the nations and establish his absolute rule. The Book of Psalms, chapter two, verse nine in Revelation 227, reference the rule with a rod of iron by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 11 forward declares he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked. So all the words of this verse represent the absolute, the unyielding governmental rule by Christ that all men will be required to submit to. And I look forward to this time when our Lord will rule and reign on the earth because there will be no more debates about same sex marriage.

There will be no more debates about abortion. There will be no more debates about this and no more debates about that, because the Bible says he will rule with the rod of iron and everyone must submit to his word. The word of God is going to be what rules in the Bible says that we as believers in Christ, we will rule and reign with our Lord.

That is going to be a great and wonderful day when his righteousness will fill the earth. Verse 16, and he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You know, I heard someone once say that Jesus had a tattoo and they were using this to justify themselves having tattoos. And I was puzzled by that. It was relayed to me from someone else. And I was scratching my head saying, where did they come up with that idea from? And then as I came to this text, I thought this is what they're pointing to, that Jesus has a it says on his thigh, a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So they're trying to say that is a tattoo.

But that is not what this is talking about. This is speaking of the fact that our Lord at his glory is appearing. He's going to come. He's going to end the reign of Satan, the of Antichrist or the false prophet. And he will usher in the millennial kingdom.

But you see a warrior in ancient days. They would go into battle with a sword on his thigh. That would be his tool by which he would overcome his enemies with. But the sword of Christ will be his spoken word. The word that called the world into being will call human leaders and armies of all nations into control. He will speak a word and his authority, his power.

His authorship over all things is going to go forth and all of his enemies will be defeated at once. So it will be clearly established on that day that Christ is the King of Kings and is the Lord of Lords. It is at this point when there will be fulfillment of the scripture that we so often reference at Christmas time in Isaiah, chapter nine, verse six. We we reference this at Christmas as a coming of Jesus Christ to the earth in the manger.

But we don't think about the fact that it is actually also pointing to his second coming for the verse tells us for unto us. A child is born unto us. A son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. You see, yes, our Lord was born as a child. He came to us as the son of God.

But the government has not yet been upon his shoulder. And he's not yet been referred to as the mighty God, the everlasting father of the Prince of Peace. But that will all be fulfilled at his second coming when this verse that speaks of the first and second coming of Jesus Christ will be fulfilled. And then there's another verse that we so often quote that I think we don't realize that we are speaking prophecy when we quote it.

That is Matthew Chapter six, verse 10. When we give the Lord's Prayer, we say your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're speaking of the kingdom of Christ that is going to come to the earth when he will come in rule and reign for a thousand years. And then at the end of that thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison one last time and will be defeated ultimately for eternity, cast into the lake of fire. And then we will continue to rule and reign with God, the father, God, the son and God, the Holy Spirit in all of eternity.

And I don't know about you, but I'm excited about it. I look forward to this time when Jesus is coming back for us, when our Lord, who was humiliated, who was beaten, who was bruised, who suffered so mightily for my sins, for your sins, for everyone's sins. But our Lord is going to be exalted. The Bible says that at that time, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When our Lord again will receive the exaltation that he so rightfully deserves.

What a mighty God we serve. Are you looking forward to that day? Are you excited about it?

If you're not, I encourage you to get excited. Look forward to the day. And if you're not, if you are fearful or you're nervous, I encourage you to examine your heart and find out what it is that's there that is not causing you and not allowing you to be excited about Jesus Christ. Because we should look forward to the coming of our great Lord and King. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you, Lord, for your great word. We thank you, Lord, that you promised that you would come back for us one day. When you left here at your first coming, you said you were going away to the Father's house where there are many mansions.

And you said if it were not so, you would have told us. But you said you were going away to prepare a place and you will come again to receive us so that where you are there, we may be also. And so, Lord, we look forward to that day where you will come back for your people and we will give you glory. We will give you honor. We will give you praise for all of eternity when there will be nothing but perfect peace, nothing but perfect joy.

No sin, no death. And we will live with you and glorify you and worship you for all of eternity. We thank you, Lord, for your love. We thank you for your sacrifice. And so, Lord, as we close, we remember today to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, blessings over the great nation of Israel. And unto you, the only wise God, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our website, GodFirst.org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel, and seek first the kingdom of God.