Christ's Victory - Revelation 19:11-21 - In The End

You know, followers of Jesus throughout history have lived in anticipation of Jesus' return. That includes believers here in this room, that includes believers at High Point, Clifton Campus, Mercío en Espanol. We live awaiting Jesus' return. I wonder, have you ever imagined what that return is going to be like?

I know I have. In fact, this week I came home from work and my kindergarten son had brought home a picture that I thought he drew representing Christ's return. Show this picture.

on the screen here. So, you see that? That's kind of what I've envisioned of him, of Jesus coming back. You know, zooming through the clouds, coming in the sky, right?

Smile on his face. My son informed me that that had nothing to do with Jesus' return. That was a picture of him enjoying a breezy day. And the lion and the lamb is not a reference to Christ.

That is a reference to the month of March, which we say marches in like a lion and out like a lamb. But I was super proud of his drawing. I asked him if I could share that.

He said, Sure, right? So how do you imagine Jesus' return? Revelation 19 unveils for us the day that Jesus returns.

Now, it doesn't tell us when he returns. We've said throughout this series, the book of Revelation is more about preparing us than it is prediction. It's more about shaping our character than satisfying our curiosity. But it does give us this picture of Jesus returning in righteousness. To wage war.

To judge all the earth. It's a picture of Jesus riding on a white horse with flame burning from his eyes with a sword coming out of his mouth. I admit that's not how I typically envision Jesus returning. In fact, that's not typically how I even think about Jesus as one who makes war.

Maybe that even makes us cringe a little bit. You know, we're more prone to think of the kind, benevolent, soft-spoken Jesus. After all, isn't Jesus the one who told us to turn the cheek and to love our enemies? But Jesus comes in righteousness to make war.

He's been prevented from what we get through over-the-counter medicine. Maybe if I grew up in a war-torn, scorched land soaked with the blood of the innocents, maybe then I would cry for God to show his might, to bring down wickedness and injustice. Maybe then I would cry for Jesus as a warrior.

But the problems I face in my life are usually more easily resolved with just a little bit of good wisdom, sound advice. And so I'm comfortable with the tame, soft-spoken, wise, sage Jesus. We are more comfortable with the Jesus that takes away consequences than the Jesus who brings consequences.

But that's not the full picture of revelation. You know, avoiding negative consequences, that's really part of human nature. It's also nourished by our culture. I mean, why else do we carry numerous insurance policies, unless it's other than to avoid potential catastrophe, right? Why else are parents tempted to do a little more than they should on their child's homework project, unless it is to avoid their child the negative consequence of a bad grade?

You know, why else do we hire an attorney to reduce a speeding ticket, to avoid greater penalties and substantial consequences? You know, we even train our puppies with positive reinforcement, right? I'm not matching those things. Those are all examples from my own life, right? I'm just pointing out that we tend to shield ourselves from negative consequences.

We don't even want to talk about it. We don't even want to think about negative consequences, which may lead us to ignore some of the harder realities that scripture presents. But hear this today, that revelation is not meant to terrorize us, but it's actually meant to help us treasure what is true and what is of lasting eternal value. Of course, sometimes we still prefer the soft-spoken, benevolent, kind Jesus who offers us guidance, but doesn't mandate anything, doesn't require anything of us.

He's always positive and encouraging. But if we don't get the complete picture, if we're not careful to pay attention to how Jesus reveals Himself in the Bible, then we may be led in completely the wrong direction. I'm reminded of the movie, The National Treasure. And in the movie, The National Treasure, the main character played by Nicolas Cage, you know, he is convinced that there is this treasure out there and that there is a clue on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

Now, this movie is 20 years old, so if I'm spoiling it for you, it's not my fault, all right? So, he finally gets the Declaration of Independence, and sure enough, his glasses on, the back of the document, there is a clue. There is a clue. And he follows that clue. But that clue led him in the wrong direction. Now, it's not that he didn't have the right document. It's not that he wasn't looking in the right place, but he wasn't seeing it properly.

There was another aspect that he needed to see on the back of that document to know fully and understand the clue. And you know, cultural Christianity, what I mean by that is kind of the religious south that I grew up in where we pray before holiday meals, where we ask a pastor to officiate our wedding where heaven is always spoken of at the funeral. Cultural Christianity wants Jesus to be good to us, but cringes at Jesus ruling over us. Cultural Christianity is looking in the right place, but it's not seeing Jesus properly. The Jesus of the Bible makes peace and war.

Can you have a Jesus who rescues without a Jesus who makes war? Well, let me ask you, can you have an airplane with only one wing? You know, I'm told that if an eagle loses just one feather from its wing, then it will naturally lose a feather in the same location on the other wing. That's amazing.

And that is how important it is to have balanced wings for flight. Well, for Christ to be the one who delivers us from any evil, he must also be the one who defeats evil wherever it exists. So Revelation 19 reveals Jesus in complete righteousness, returning to judge and make war. Look with me in Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11.

Verses will be on the screen so you can follow along. The apostle John writes what he sees. He says, Then I saw 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 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. 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, 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 was 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.

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 book of Revelation is filled with language and symbols that are meant to grab our attention, and that passage does that, right? It grabs our attention. And you know, I've kind of envisioned teaching through this passage today, kind of like maybe a tour guide in an art gallery. Now, I don't know if this is actually true because I don't know if I've ever had a tour guide in an art gallery, but I imagine that if you went to an art gallery, had a tour guide, that the tour guide would lead you past these images, these pictures, and you may stand before this great work of art, and almost instantly you understand what that picture represents. You understand the meaning of it, but the tour guide would say, no, no, no, wait, I want you to look at this aspect of the painting.

I want you to look at this aspect of the artwork to help you appreciate it more. And so I want us to look at just different aspects of this picture given to us in Revelation 19. And the first one I want you to notice is the appearance of Jesus, how John the apostle sees him. The first thing that grabs our attention is the image in this passage is Christ sitting on a white horse. This white horse is a symbol of victory.

You Lord of the Ring fans, I'm sure you're envisioning Gandalf right now appearing in the east, a raid in white, you know, getting ready to turn the tides of the battle. Well, next in verse 12, we notice his eyes are like a flame of fire. This symbolizes that nothing escapes his gaze.

Jesus sees everything we do, we cannot hide our deeds with such piercing vision he knows even our thoughts and our motives. It says that on his head are many diadems, that's crowns, right, signifies his rule, his royalty, his kingship. And it says that there are so many crowns it doesn't even number how many crowns there are. Now we could go back and think back to earlier in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 13, where the beast who was later killed in Revelation 19, where the beast first appears having 10 crowns on his head, right. And these 10 crowns describe great authority, perhaps the authority over 10 nations, perhaps the authority over 10 superpowers. But 10 nations, as mighty as that is, is small compared to the authority of Christ's dominion. Christ rules all nations with a rod of iron.

This is a picture not of leniency, but a picture of total control. We also see Christ that he is wearing a robe dipped in blood. Now whose blood is this? Maybe this is Christ's own blood that he has shed as a sacrifice for our sins.

I think it's more likely that this is meant to be seen as the blood of his enemies. Because Revelation 14, John sees this image for miles around there's blood flowing, blood that has spilled from the enemies of God, blood that raises up to the bridle of the horse. And the picture of Revelation 19 is of the conquering warrior who has won the victory.

And as he rode through the battlefield atop this horse, the tail end of his robe trailed in the flowing blood of the enemies. You know, the Bible is many books, but it's really one book. And there are threads all throughout scripture. And so we can expect that when we get to the last book, the book of Revelation, that it's going to kind of echo back other stories, bring back up other images, other language used elsewhere earlier in the Bible. And in fact this is language that is used in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 63, look forward to the same day, the day of the Messiah's vengeance and victory.

And in Isaiah 63 verse 3 we actually hear the words of the Messiah say this, I have trodden the winepress alone and from the peoples no one was with me. I trod them in my anger and trampled them with my wrath. Their life blood spattered on my garments and stained all my apparel. Only Christ has blood on his robes. The armies of heaven following him which signifies both angels and the people of God, the church. They are arrayed in fine linen, white and pure.

Their garments are stain free. But both Isaiah 63 and Revelation 19 are making the point that Christ alone wins the victory for his people. We also see that from his mouth comes a sharp sword. His word separates truth from falsehood. His word is ultimate authority. At his word nations will crumble, he strikes down, he rules, he treads upon all who oppose him. When Christ returns he will bring with him the full fury of God's holy wrath. No one and no thing can stand in his way. Again this is not mild and meek Jesus that we like to think about.

This is consequential, no tolerance, no leniency, total and complete authority Jesus. And maybe this makes us cringe a little. We get a little nervous thinking about someone having too much power. But I want to suggest that our problem isn't really with power.

Our problem is actually with trust. Power in itself is not a bad thing. I like it in my home when the power is on. When the power is on my house is more comfortable than when it's off.

The temperature is controlled, I can flip a switch and see where I'm going. Right now, I know that's talking about electrical power but you get the idea. And maybe even think about political power. Sure, there are some leaders that we would fear gaining too much military power because of what they might do. But isn't it nice to live in a country that has enough military power to kind of defend and protect from enemies?

See, the power itself is not the problem. It all depends on who has the power. Can we trust that person? And so we've seen the appearance of Christ. Now I want us to look at how he is referred, how he is identified.

So that we can mature in our understanding of who Jesus is. In fact, four times in this passage of Revelation we read something similar to the phrase, He is called, He is named. And so let's look at Christ's identity, the one who has this power. First we see in verse 11 that he is called faithful and true.

Faithful and true. In Revelation 1-5, earlier in the book, Jesus is called the faithful witness. Revelation 3-14, Jesus is referred to as the faithful and true witness. Last week, Pastor Andrew preached on the marriage supper of the Lamb.

The celebration, the union of Christ and his people. And think about a marriage, at the end of the day, isn't it a wonderful compliment if you can say of your spouse they are faithful and true? It is the devil who operates by lies and deception. But Jesus can be trusted 100% of the time. When Jesus judges, when Jesus makes war, he does so in righteousness. Meaning everything he does is completely right, completely true.

You know, our sense of justice and injustice, it's flawed, right? But he has perfect knowledge. And so having total power, total authority, total control will never corrupt Jesus. He has, he does, and he will use his authority for good because he is good.

He is faithful and true. The second identifier is in verse 12. It says, a name written that no one knows but himself.

Now this one is really interesting to me. What does it mean that Jesus has this name that no one knows but himself? Think back to in the very beginning of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 1 and 2, God created Adam and then gave Adam dominion, authority. And how did Adam exert that authority to men?

What did he do? He named the animals, right? Naming signifies authority and dominion. It's an act of authority. New leaders often come and take over a company and give the company a new name, right?

New political leaders may come and name cities a different name. You know, this is interesting. You can know someone really well. I mean, you can know them really, really, really, really well and not know their middle name. But do you know who does know their middle name?

Their mom and dad because they gave them that name. You know, growing up at my house, if I heard my middle name, oh boy, I was in trouble, right? If my middle name was spoken, I knew I had done something wrong and I was being held accountable to who I was under authority by, right? See, naming is an act of dominion and authority. So what does it mean that Jesus has a name that no one knows but himself? It signifies that he is under no one else's authority. No one has dominion over Christ.

All authority in heaven and on earth is his and his alone. Now, the third identifier is in verse 13. It says, the name by which he is called is the word of God. Again, this is picking back up language that's been used previously in scripture. John chapter 1 calls Jesus the word of God. Jesus is the word of God.

Not only does Jesus make God known to us, Jesus created the world and will forever rule the world. The fourth identifier is in verse 16. It says, on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords. Now, because of this verse, some people think that Jesus will return with a tattoo on his thigh. I believe that's Pastor Andrew's interpretation of this passage. But it could just as well mean that this name is inscribed on the robe as the robe covers the thigh.

I don't know. We can debate that. But the point is clear, and this is another description of his total authority and power. So gather together the world's richest business moguls. Gather together the world's most esteemed royalty. Gather together history's conquering diocese.

Gather together social media's biggest influencers. Jesus exceeds them all. Jesus has no equal. Jesus has no rival. Every day, every knee will bow before Jesus and Jesus alone. And this is why the church sings, all hail King Jesus. We focused on Christ's appearances. We focused on his identity. Now let's look at his actions. Let's see Christ's victory.

This is recorded. We read it earlier, verses 17 through 21. This next vision, John sees, it's of an angel calling all of the birds of the air to gather for a feast of flesh of the defeated, of the slain. Christ's enemies are not merely wounded. They are laid waste.

The only thing that's left for them is for the birds to consume. Christ's victory is swift. This is not like one of those movies where the final battle scene takes like a third of the movie, right? And there's going back and forth and, oh no, the hero's not going to win. Oh, maybe he is.

Oh, maybe, no, it's swift. Christ is conquering. It's announced and then it's over. Christ's victory is also extensive. No one escapes. The captains cannot retreat.

The kings cannot hide in their fortresses. The highest and the lowest are all completely destroyed. The pastor says that this includes the beast and the false prophet. And I know that hearing those labels, those names, it kind of piques our curiosity and you can listen to other sermons in this series for more on these figures. If you're really curious about the mark of the beast, then ask your community leader this week in group. You're welcome community leaders.

I know you wanted me to say that. But I'll just say very quickly that the beast represents a concentrated power with massive worldwide control that is violently opposed to Christ and his kingdom. The false prophet represents false religion that mimics Christ in order to deceive and in order to increase the worship of the beast. The mark of the beast, it will be received with enthusiasm by those wanting to express their worship of the beast. But all of them, the beast, the prophet, those who worship the beast will be defeated. The point of Revelation 19 that is not up for debate is that in the end, Jesus wins. Now the effect of this passage in this image is twofold.

It's like a sword that cuts both ways. It gives us hope and it gives warning. With any victory, there is a corresponding defeat. Jesus' return, it will be historical, it will be personal, it will be undeniable, it will be inescapable. And every person will experience either relief or terror.

There will be no neutrality, there will be no bystanders, there will be no onlookers. This day is also recorded for us, spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 1, beginning in verse 7 it says, to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed. No one who wars against Christ will stand, but those who stand with Christ will be saved. If you're prone to maybe brush aside the idea of Jesus returning as some embellished mythical fantasy, I want to read another verse for you that comes from the book of Acts.

Okay, so this is another author of the Bible, this is Luke and he's recording actually a sermon that Paul was preaching. In Acts 17 31 he says that God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he has appointed, which we've seen in this passage, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. Okay, so if you're prone to maybe just kind of ignore and think that Jesus is returning, maybe that's just some kind of fantasy, it's embellishments, mythical, I really want you to hear this point, I ask you if you're there, investigate the historical resurrection of Jesus. That's what this verse is talking about, it says that there is assurance, the way God has assured us that this is going to happen, that Jesus' return is going to happen, is that he raised Jesus from the dead. And even the Apostle Paul said that the resurrection is not true, that we Christians are to be most pitied, but if the resurrection is true, then there is no reason to ignore the fact that one day you will face Jesus.

And the only time that you're guaranteed to prepare for that day, is right now. So my question is, are you warring with God? Are you at war with God? Now maybe you think to yourself, now wait a minute, I don't hate God.

I don't hate God, I'm not trying to convince other people that God doesn't exist, or that God is bad, nothing like that. But understand that being at war with God, it is anything less than total allegiance to him. So who is the authority of your life? You know, I grew up in church. All my life I grew up in church. But the authority for much of my life was me.

I was the authority. I wanted God to bless my life, but I didn't want God to rule my life. I wanted God to be good to me, I just didn't want God to ask anything of me. But a God of such authority, he demands our allegiance, our loyalty, our commitment. The passage we read a moment ago, 2 Thessalonians, says that Christ will come and inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. So what is this gospel of our Lord Jesus? The gospel is not just good advice, right?

It's not rules that we follow to try to please God. The gospel is good news. It is an announcement. It is a declaration of what God in Christ has already done.

It's the news of what Jesus did in his first coming, which happened some 2,000 years ago. When he came and he lived a perfect life, perfectly obedient to God in every way, yet he died a criminal's death on a cross. Now you hear that and you may say, wait a minute, that sounds so unjust.

That sounds so unfair. How could God allow his perfect precious son to die a shameful criminal's death? Actually, that was perfectly just.

Do you know why? Because God's justice demands penalty. His holiness demands penalty.

And Jesus took your sins, your wrongs, my wrongs upon himself and received the punishment that we deserved. Can you imagine in a court of law today that the evidence is presented and it is undeniable that the person convicted of the crime, they are guilty without a shadow of a doubt, right? I mean, everyone knows they are guilty. The jury goes out, it's unanimous.

They don't have to deliberate long. They come in guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty is the verdict. Then the judge also pronounces the person guilty. But then when it comes time for sentencing, the judge says, okay, you can go. I mean, the most heinous criminal, atrocious crimes committed, but no punishment. That would not be a just judge.

That would not be a good judge. His justice would be off. But God is just.

God is holy. And the punishment, the wrongs that are done against Him must be paid for. And so God is completely just in punishing His Son Jesus because Jesus took our sins upon Himself.

He voluntarily substituted Himself in our place. See, Jesus, when He comes again, He is going to come and bring God's wrath with Him. But for those who have surrendered their life to Him, He has already absorbed that wrath on their behalf.

He is taking it in full. So how do you obey this Gospel? How do you obey this good news? You obey it by living believing that it's true.

By trusting that it's true. A simple way that you can express that trust in God we talk about here at Mercy Hill is admit, believe, confess. Admit, God, I've wronged you.

God, I deserve your punishment. But God, I believe that Jesus took my punishment in my place. And God, now I confess that You are Lord of my life, that You are worthy for me to follow for my allegiance. You can express that to God in prayer. You can express that to God alone, or you can gather with a friend, someone that maybe brought you here today. Pray that to God. And know that when He comes again, you are at peace with Him.

For the believer here today, my question for you is, are you resting in Christ's victory? You know, the opposite of war is peace. Peace brings rest. And maybe you think that peace with God is kind of like being at peace with your neighbor.

You know, you're probably not, at least I hope you're not, actively scheming some plan against your neighbor right now. You know, you're at peace with each other. Let me try to give you a better picture of peace.

A better picture of peace is not just two neighbors who get along, but it's being at a dinner table with your best friends. Maybe you're close family. Enjoying their company, you've completely let your guard down.

You're not trying to cover your weaknesses, cover your flaws. You're already known, and you're already loved. That's peace.

That's rest. And when we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, we believe that God sees us fully, those flaming, piercing eyes, knows everything that we've done, every thought that we've ever thought. And yet He says, I love you. I know you, and I love you. You know, there are many ways that we can rest in Christ's victory. We can rest in Christ's victory by confessing our sin instead of minimizing it. And we know Christ wins.

And His people are not condemned, and Satan's accusations, they will not stick. We are fully known by God and fully loved by Him. We can rest in Christ's victory when we remember that vengeance is the Lord's, that He will repay. And this allows us to pursue peace in relationships, to seek the welfare of others, even those that are against us, rather than strive to preserve ourselves or protect our reputation. We can rest in Christ's victory when we remain faithful to God's Word.

Others may ridicule us for us, but God's Word guides and directs us. Will you pray with me? God, today we confess that You are the great conqueror, that You are the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, that all of history is pointing to Your return when You will rule with authority. God, I pray that today would be this day of salvation for someone under the sound of my voice that today he or she would surrender control of their life over to You to acknowledge that You are worthy to follow, to acknowledge that You are supreme. God, You are King of Kings. You are Lord of Lords. God, would You be the King of our hearts now. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.