The Glorious Return of Jesus Christ, Part 2 B

This conqueror comes not as other conquerors out of covetousness, ambition, pride, or the love of power. This conqueror comes in utter righteousness, in perfect holiness, in strict accord with every holy interest. That's where it's going to go, this history of the world.

That's where it's going to end. It's long been said that there are only two certainties in life, death and taxes. And of course, where the certainties of life are concerned, far better to focus on the two that have eternal consequences, namely death and the return of Christ. Indeed, the Lord's return and all of the end-time events you read about in Scripture are certainties that you need to prepare for.

The question is, how do you prepare? Here's a question to keep in mind today on grace to you as John MacArthur continues his study called, When Jesus Comes. If you have your Bible, or if you're using our study Bible app, turn to the book of Revelation and here's John with today's lesson. It is our great privilege to open our Bibles to the 19th chapter of Revelation and to look at that great text which details for us the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation chapter 19 verses 11 through 16. Now I want to divide these verses up into three parts, the return of the conqueror, the regiments of the conqueror, and the rule of the conqueror, the return, the regiments, and the rule. Let's look then, first of all, at verses 11 to 13 and look at the return of the conqueror, the return of the conqueror. Verse 11, And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat upon it is called Faithful and True and in righteousness he judges and makes war. And this time John doesn't see a lamb in the midst of the throne, rather he sees, according to verse 11, a white horse.

This is not a lamb, this is a white horse. Riding on that white horse is the great conqueror, the Messiah. The Lord is a man of war. In righteousness he judges and makes war. Frankly, the judging has already been going on in the breaking of the seals and in the blowing of the trumpets and the pouring out of the bowls, but now he makes a final war. He who for long centuries had endured the scoffings patiently, the insults, the bad manners of men who contemplated Calvary and, as it were, spit on him, who displayed human hatred and contempt, who through millennia have rejected the peace that he made through the blood of the cross, they're now going to find him a warrior king.

But there's not going to be much fighting on their part. The end will come in a split second. You see, heaven cannot be at peace with sin. God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, cannot look upon iniquity.

God's patience has an end. He will not always tolerate iniquity. Justice cannot always live with injustice. Truth cannot always live with lies. Rebellion cannot always go on. And when sin is finally incorrigible and man is incurable, will come the destruction.

And mercy abused will bring the executioner. Here, says one writer, comes the sword of insulted majesty, the wrath of rejected grace. Furthermore, this conqueror comes not as other conquerors, out of covetousness, ambition, pride, or the love of power. This conqueror comes in utter righteousness, in perfect holiness, in strict accord with every holy interest. And that's where it's going to go, this history of the world.

That's where it's going to end. Further, in the description, verse 12, And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems, and he has a name written upon him which no one knows except himself. He has eyes like a flame of fire.

What is that? Now nothing escapes his notice. He has penetrating eyes. His eyes pierce through and see everything. That, too, is said of him in Revelation 1.14, His eyes were like a flame of fire.

It has to do with piercing, penetrating, as well as purifying gaze. He can see into the recesses of every human heart. His vision penetrates everything. In chapter 2, verse 18 of Revelation, to the church at Thyatira, it says, A son of God who has eyes like a flame of fire. When first he looked upon the earth, when first he came, his eyes sparkled with tenderness and joy as he gathered little children to himself, as he expressed his love to the poor and the needy. His eyes glowed with compassion as when a single look on guilty Peter melted Peter's heart and made him weep bitterly.

His eyes were filled with tears as he looked over the city of Jerusalem and wept as he shed tears from those same eyes at the grave of Lazarus. The day is coming when those eyes flash with fire, when they are penetrating, burning eyes, probing the darkest recesses of every human soul, and purging and purifying with judgment. To judge rightly, he has to see everything. He has to sound the depths of every heart. He has to see behind every mask, under every façade.

It is the flaming vision of righteous omniscience and anger. And then it says in verse 12, upon his head are many crowns, many diadema, many kings' crowns, rulers' crowns. And this speaks of his royal rank and regal authority. And it's the idea that he's just collected all the crowns and they're all on his head because nobody else rules any place. Here is the ultimate symbol of sovereignty. All the crowns are on one head.

In chapter 11 and verse 15, we hear the same thought a different way. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He will reign forever and ever. It's a fair exchange, isn't it, for a crown of thorns?

A fair exchange. And what it refers to is, I suppose, what you could call unassailable sovereignty...unassailable sovereignty. He is King and no one can do anything about it. Gird Thy sword on Thy thigh, Almighty One, the psalmist said, as I quoted earlier, and in Thy majesty ride on victoriously.

He is the King. Further it says about Him, He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. I can't tell you how many people have asked me what that name is.

And I have told them all the same thing. It is a name that no one knows, not even me and no one else. We don't like something like that, do we? We want to know, but this is something we don't know. John could see a name there, but either he couldn't read it or he couldn't comprehend it when he did read it. It was unintelligible to him.

He didn't know what it was. It was beyond human comprehension. It was beyond human knowledge. It was beyond human understanding.

And listen, my friend, that's very encouraging. With all that we know of Jesus Christ, we will not know the fullness of the mystery of His person. John couldn't know it. Oh, maybe...maybe there are things that we'll know in eternity, surely there are that we can't know now, but I'm quite confident that the full mystery of His being may well never be known to us. Yes, we will know as we are known to some degree, according to 1 Corinthians 13, 12, and that's wonderful to think about, but here was John in an exalted vision taken to heaven and there was a reality about Jesus that he could not comprehend. There is an incomprehensibility to the character of God that perhaps even an eternally glorified human will never know. Oh, we'll know so much more than we know now, but the full incomprehensibility of God will always be incomprehensible. And so all John is saying is there's something about Him that is way beyond anything we can ever comprehend.

That's wonderful to hear. Sometimes I think we can become overly familiar with Jesus. We can overstate our comprehension and think we really know Him better than we do. There is a profound nature in the Lord Jesus Christ that is comprehensible only to God. Here comes the incomprehensible one, the sovereign one, the faithful and true one, the warrior King to do His judgment. And then in verse 13, further describing the return, the ruler who returns, He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood. This is not the blood that He shed on the cross. This is not a picture of redemption, my friend.

This is a picture of judgment. And based upon clearly the imagery behind this in Isaiah 63 is of a coming King with a blood-splattered garment. Jesus is coming with His blood-splattered garment. You say, now wait a minute, He's coming with a blood-splattered garment, but the battle hasn't started.

Where did the blood come from? May I hasten to remind you, this is not His first battle, this is His last battle. He has worn His battle clothes before. Who but He has fought the dragon? Who but He fought for Israel in the days of Joshua? Who but He fought the kings of Canaan and Tanakh by the waters of Megiddo?

Who but He vanquished six world powers past and all the nations that have by this time fallen? Now His garments have been splattered with blood for a long time. Who but He battled Pharaoh in the triumph of the Exodus? It's the almighty conqueror who has His war clothes on and His war clothes bear the stains of prior battles. This is not His first battle. It's the same almighty conqueror who battled with sin at the cross and mingled His own blood with the blood of His enemies on His battle clothes.

And now these battle clothes are to be stained again and the stains now perhaps more far-reaching than ever before. He is to tread the winepress of the wrath of God, blood splattering in every direction in the holocaust of fearful judgment. In 2 Thessalonians 1, 7 it says, the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He's coming in the fury of judgment to stain His garments again. And then it says in the end of verse 13, His name is called the Word of God. His name is called the Word of God. Just in case there's any question about who it is, we know who the Word of God is, right? John 1, the Word became flesh and dwelled among us and we beheld His glory, right? In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. The Word of God is none other than the second member of the Trinity, Christ, the incarnate One who is also the Creator. He is the One with the blood on His garments. He is the Warrior King and He comes in judgment.

And so here again, this name is so majestic. Why does God choose to call Him the Word of God? Because He is the expression of God. He is the revelation of God. He is the declaration of God. He is the One in whom we hear God speak and see God act. He is the full expression of the mind and the will and the purpose of God. He is God's Word.

The Word represents that which is communicated. He communicates God. So the sum of His names really is a glorious picture, isn't it? He has a name which no man knew, which expresses His essential deity. He has a name, the Word of God, which expresses His incarnate deity. And He has a name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, which expresses His sovereign deity. Frankly, the gospel plan is in those three names.

He is God who revealed Himself to man and someday will come to reign over the universe. The sum of the names then is the sum of the picture of the conqueror, so the return of the conqueror. Then we see the regiments of the conqueror, briefly in verse 14, and the armies which are in heaven. Now we've got some armies up there in heaven.

Who are they? Well, they're clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and they're following Him on white horses. Who are these glorified troops? Well, get a little hint here, back in chapter 19 verse 8, just go back a few verses. Here's the bride, verse 7, the bride is the church as well as the redeemed saints who have been brought together for the great marriage supper to take place in the kingdom. And it says the bride, that is believers who have been redeemed, and it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. Then it says this, for the fine linen is the righteousness or the righteous acts of the saints. So down in verse 14 when it says that these armies in heaven were clothed in fine linen, white and clean, who are they?

They have to be the saints...have to be the saints and have to encompass the bride, it has to be the church. So we said the church is raptured and now the church comes back with Him. They're coming back now depicted not so much in bridal character as in righteousness. This would also encompass tribulation saints who had been glorified because you see them in chapter 7 verse 9, standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed in white robes. And in verse 13 you say, who are those in white robes and where did they come from? And He says, they are the ones that came out of the great tribulation and they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

So you've got the church garbed in fine linen, white and clean. You've got the tribulation saints in their wonderful robes, robes that have been made pure and clean. And there's another group, Jude tells us that verse 14, the Lord comes with many thousands of His saints...with many thousands of His saints, literally His holy ten thousands to execute judgment upon all and to convict all and so forth and so on. Who would be the many thousands of His saints? Well, we certainly could conclude that it could be Old Testament saints. They've been there too and they're going to have a glorious resurrection at the end of the tribulation.

Daniel writes about that, a resurrection unto life. So you could have the church, the bride, the tribulation saints and even the Old Testament saints coming with the Lord. And we have to add another group and that's the angels because in Matthew 25 and verse 31, it says when He comes, all the angels come with Him. Ten thousand times ten thousand of the angels, two-thirds of the original number, one-third fell with Satan, the two-thirds remaining glorious angels come with Him. All the saints of the Old Testament, all the saints of the church age, all the saints of the time of the tribulation all come blazing out of heaven with Him. So the regiments of heaven come with the conqueror and that's who they are. They're all the regiments gathered in the glory up until that time. You say, what about the saints?

What do we do? Well we've come to reign, 1 Corinthians 6 to Revelation chapter 20 has us sitting on thrones and reigning. And so once the kingdom is established, we rule and reign in the kingdom. So we see the return in the regiments and then just briefly the rule of the conqueror and it's obvious. Verse 15, from His mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it He may smite the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron and He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty and on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written King of kings and Lord of lords. The rule of the king is depicted in very graphic terms.

You see the return the regiment and now the rule. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword, it's a symbol of His slaying power. And John had seen that sword before back in chapter 1 in the vision of verse 16, out of His mouth coming a sharp two-edged sword. In that particular vision, that sword was a defending sword to defend the church against the onslaught of Satan and his powers. But here it is a sword of judgment, it is the flaming sword of death. And it's the sword out of His mouth because He speaks and it's done. The whole thing is over in a second, death dealing power in His words where once He spoke comfort, He now speaks death. We don't see any weapons, by the way, in anybody else's hands.

None of the saints who come with Him have any weapons. His word is enough. And He says, Isaiah 11, 4, will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. So verse 15 says, with this sword He will smite the nations. Israel has been purged. The elect out of Israel have been redeemed and they will be preserved into the kingdom.

The rest of the world He will slaughter in an instant with His own word. Then He will set up His kingdom and rule them with a rod of iron. That is to say, there will be regenerated Gentiles.

There's a lot skipped in there. There will be regenerated Gentiles. He's not going to kill them. They'll go into the kingdom and through that kingdom He will rule those nations with a rod of iron. What does that mean? It means instantaneous judgment. It means swift punishment. Chapter 12 verse 5 says, the male child who is Christ will rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Psalm 2 verses 8 and 9 is where that comes from. Back in Psalm 2 is the promise that the Messiah would come and He would break the nations with a rod of iron. What that means is instant, swift, righteous judgment will be the characteristic of the rule and the reign of Jesus Christ. When He comes, His judgment will be sure. It will be swift, unyielding, absolute sovereignty, immediate justice with severity.

It's going to be a very different world than it is today. When there's so much rampant injustice and inequity, God will establish the law. Christ will execute the law. Justice will be absolute, sovereign, instantaneous and severe. All will be required to conform to that law or be judged. And, of course, we will participate at that point in that judging process.

In fact, it says in Revelation 2, 26, to him who overcomes, I will give authority over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. So we get in on that ruling process. He does the execution, we do the ruling.

The angels do the mop up after the execution. Then John gives a further description of his rule by saying he treads the wine...rather of his judgment by saying he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. This comment relates to his fury and his wrath. He crushes the grapes in his wrath, a very vivid symbol of judgment.

In ancient times they would stomp on the grapes and they would squish and spurt everywhere. That kind of vivid bursting of the blood of people is the imagery here. So he comes in fury and he comes in judgment and he tramples in an instant all the ungodly out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ comes the sentence and the execution. And that puts him in a position to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And it's written on his robe and on his thigh that that indeed is his name. Psalm 45, 3 says, Gird thy sword on thy thigh, Almighty One, and on that same thigh is the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He's identified in John's image as having a banner that sweeps across and goes down on his thigh. And it shows that he's ultimately the sovereign, he's ultimately the king. So all foes are vanquished, the slaughter is fearful, frightening, terrible thing. But mercy abused and grace spurned reaches this point. And when he came the first time, they would have preferred a murderer over him and they killed him, killing the Prince of Life, as the book of Acts says.

They openly blaspheme God, they become more and more wicked as time goes on, finally in the end their wickedness reaches irredeemable proportions and the executor comes back to execute. And the picture is clear and unmistakable. The psalmist saw this, and I close with this. In Psalm 2, he saw it so clearly that he was going to come with a rod of iron and he said this, verse 11...or verse 10, excuse me. Now therefore, O kings, show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling.

And I love this. Kiss the Son, lest he become angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. Now blessed are all who take refuge in him. Now, you've probably heard someone suggest that the Bible is not clear about end times events, that the book of Revelation is mostly fog and mystery. And, John, while it's true that Scripture doesn't reveal all of the details about what lies ahead, there is a lot that we can know.

You know, this is not an acceptable sort of default position, but I hear it all the time. Well, you know, everybody's got a different view of Revelation. Everybody sees it differently. There are amillennialists and postmillennialists and premillennialists. There are people who have the rapture that comes at a certain time. Some say before the tribulation. Some say after the tribulation. Some say in the middle of the tribulation. Some say near the end of the tribulation. Some say there is no rapture. It's the same as the second coming. And because there are so many different views, it's pretty obvious that the Bible is not clear.

Well, I beg to differ with you on that. The point of the book of Revelation is revelation. The whole point of the book is to make something clear that you could never know if God didn't reveal it. Why?

Because you can't know the future. How priceless is the book of Revelation? How priceless is prophecy like our Lord gave in the Olivet Discourse, in particular in Matthew 24 and 25? This is priceless revelation about the future, and it is carefully given. It is accurate. It is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

It is detailed, and it is clear. You don't need to be confused. If you take the book of Revelation at face value, you do not need to be confused. If all you have is a Bible, you won't be. But if you start listening to other voices and critical ideas from outside Scripture, you can get confused.

So let me help you. I wrote a book that came out of a single message I gave called A Jet Tour Through Revelation. The whole book of Revelation in one small booklet. That's right. I can take you on a journey through the whole book of Revelation.

It starts with these words. Blessed is the one who reads and understands this book. You can have that blessing. I'd like to send you a jet tour through the book of Revelation free of charge. All you have to do is ask.

This is for anyone who asks. Call us. Contact us today. Ask for your free copy of A Jet Tour Through Revelation.

That's right. This booklet will give you a panoramic view of the entire book of Revelation and help you experience the profound blessing that's promised to those who read and obey this key portion of Scripture. To get your free copy of A Jet Tour Through Revelation, contact us today. Call us at 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, gty.org.

If you're not sure what the future holds, what the Bible says about divine judgment and the tribulation and the millennium, you don't want to miss this offer, A Jet Tour Through Revelation, our gift to you. Just call for this helpful booklet, 800-55-GRACE or visit gty.org. Also, friend, thank you for your partnership. From day one, Grace To You has been supported by listeners like you, people who have benefited from the teaching that you hear on Grace To You and want other people to benefit as well. Supporting your church comes first, of course, but as you are led and as you're able, know that your gifts to Grace To You will help us make an eternal difference in people's lives. You can make a donation at gty.org or call us at 800-55-GRACE. That's 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making this broadcast part of your day and be here at the same time tomorrow when John continues his look at what life will be like when Jesus comes. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace To You.