The Divine Warrior Revelation 19:11-16

All right, well, let's go ahead and get started. We're talking about the book of Revelation and looking at the divine warrior in Revelation chapter 19 verses 16 through, excuse me, 19 verses 11 through 16. And in this chapter, you know, I'm really finding it extremely interesting because there's so much packed into this chapter that is not seen or not stated. And it just almost entices you to look further into it as we study it. But it's just full of all of these events that are pointing toward the end. And just with, you know, a little bit of effort, I think you can make a very strong case for all of these things. And so to me, it deserves a lot more attention to unravel all of the amazing events that are revealed and associated with this chapter. So much of chapters 20 and 21 can be contained in these verses that's easily overlooked because of all of the themes that are set forth within it. And of course, you know, as people listen to the recordings that we do and some of them comment on Facebook, they have problems with the sequencing in the book of Revelation because they think that everything in it is in a linear, you know, context in terms of chronology, that everything just follows one step after the other. And that's really not the case. And that really confuses them when they start trying to interpret chapter 19, 20, and 21. But when we look at chapter 19, it is so clearly a pretty much a wrap-up of the end time and of all of the events coming together in this particular chapter. And let me just point out some examples of what I mean. First of all, and these are not in any specific order, but just to look at them, you know, the chapter connects the judgment on the harlot with the arrival of salvation at Christ's coming. This we can see in Revelation chapter 19, verses one and two, where it says, after these things, I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God. I think that's also mentioned in Revelation 12 and verse 10 to be on this specific verse, but I know it's in that chapter. For true and righteous are his judgments because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication. And he has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her. And maybe this is one of the reasons why people, you know, kind of want to stay away from chapter 19 to some degree and have difficulty ascribing who the harlot is in the chapter, et cetera, because of all of these events that are associated with it. And so they find a way to push it off into the future, but it deserves, you know, a lot more, as we said, attention being focused on this. So here you have the arrival of salvation. You have the judgment of the harlot. You have the avenging of the apostles and prophets. And of course, you know, that's taken straight from Matthew chapter 23, when Jesus was talking about the destruction of the temple. Also, we see that it's the time of the coming of the eternal kingdom and that links both the kingdom and the wedding together. Now I've made that point in the study of Revelation 19 and earlier in the book of Revelation, but I think it deserves to be mentioned again. You know, you've got passages such as Matthew 22, 1 through 13. There's also Matthew 24 and 25 particularly. And what I would like to say about Matthew 24 and 25 is the attempt to divide the chapter into two separate comings. Well, Revelation 19 says that cannot be done scripturally. You cannot interpret the chapter that way because what you have here is a convergence of both those concepts right here in the chapter with the judgment on the harlot, which is Jerusalem, the fall of the temple and the destruction of the city, just as was prophesied in Matthew 24, in Luke 21, and of course in Mark 13 and elsewhere in the New Testament. But primarily in looking at Matthew 24, you have the chapter that talks about the fall of the temple. And then when you get to chapter 25, it talks about the wedding and the coming of the Lord in association with that. But right here in Revelation chapter 19, you see that the wedding comes immediately after, in terms of the way the chapter is laid out, the judgment on the harlot and is associated with that. So you cannot separate those two. And all of this argument about Matthew 24, 36 being a day and hour that no man knows, as if to make not knowing the day mean that the day could not come or did not come, just goes totally out the window because all of these things that we're seeing here are coming together. And so it's a great chapter to demonstrate the continuity of Matthew 24 and 25. And I think a lot more attention ought to be even given to that. It also proves that the rumors of wars, all of those elements in Matthew 24 that people try to push off into the future. We've got so many futurists out there who every time there is a war, every time a conflict breaks out somewhere in the world, they head straight to Matthew 24 and start talking about the fulfillment of these events that we find here. But this is telling us that in the judgment on Jerusalem, all of those things find their fulfillment. And that would include the wars, the pestilences. And we've seen all of those things in Revelation, particularly in chapter eight and elsewhere. The earthquakes occurred, and they do not extend beyond the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It also indicates that the gospel had gone to all the nations per Matthew 24 and verse 14. As a matter of fact, you could actually just take Revelation 19 and open up Matthew chapter 24 and teach both of them side by side just by pulling out the elements that are inferred from the one to the other. And the abomination of desolation, again, has to have occurred by virtue of the fact that we're dealing with the wedding. The wedding comes at the time of the parricidea. That would mark the end. And all of the other things, therefore, would have to have occurred. And because of the fact that it's associated with the judgment on the harlot, that means that these events occur in 70 AD. So whether you're talking about the darkening of the sun, the moon, and the stars, and that, by the way, is another point that demonstrates that these things are not in chronological order as far as they are indicated here. And see, we don't have any reference to specifically to the end of heaven and earth in Revelation chapter 19. But that was spoken of all the way back there in chapter 6 of Revelation. And from that perspective, you have a heaven and earth spoken of both in chapter 20, the old heaven and earth fleeing and then again passing away in chapter 21, which shows that all of those things converge in 70 AD as well. All of those find their fulfillment at that time. So when you're looking at Matthew 24, verse 29, with the sun, moon, and stars falling and the powers of the heaven being shaken, and then verse 35, heaven and earth shall pass away, again, all of that is involved in this context because any of it that is claimed for the parousia, any of it that is claimed for the time of the end, would be in connection with the marriage that we find in this case. Otherwise, we're going to have to argue that there are two separate marriages in the book of Revelation and that's just not going to work. And it means that, you know, one of the favorite texts for those who object to Revelation being fulfilled, like Revelation 1 and verse 7, which is a parallel to Matthew 24 and verse 30, likewise, would have to be fulfilled during this time. And so that demonstrates that point. And the other is the millennium would have to have occurred up to this point. None of these things we necessarily see within the text, but because of the points that are mentioned together in Revelation 19, they all have to be there. And we see them, you know, some of these points laid out in chapter 20 and 21, but they're all here. So the judgment and one other that I will mention, and we'll even talk about this more and talk about the nature of it in some upcoming lessons, is the resurrection also occurs in connection with the marriage. And so that again, gets chapter 20. It also gets chapter 21, talking about no more death, no more tears. So all of those things are found right here in Revelation chapter 19. But again, you know, that's a matter of reasoning and understanding the events. You just can't separate them from the time of the marriage. And we've already looked at the language in Isaiah 25 verses six through nine, and that indicated the time of the marriage with death being swallowed up in this mountain. So all of those things are extremely important. Now, as we look in verse 11, to begin with the text today, now I saw heaven opened and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. John sees this as a vision, as the text says, he saw another vision in heaven. In other words, it's like heaven opened and he sees this white horse. We saw a picture of the white horse in chapter six, and that undoubtedly refers to Christ. And this is the same thing that we have here in this particular text. We also see that Jesus called himself, or at least he's referred to as the true and faithful witness in Revelation chapter three and verse 14. So that's kind of a repeat of that concept. And from that perspective, we are seeing the correlation between some things in chapter six, as well as in chapter 19 that refer to Christ. And primarily the first part of this verse is giving a description of Christ and showing once again, the events are not chronological, but they are correlations between earlier verses and what we have in this particular chapter. And we're looking at a war scene. There are really two divisions of that in Revelation chapter 19, one from 11 through 16 verses 11 to 16, and then the other starting in 17. And that'll come up in a future lesson. It's also interesting to note that when we're talking about this war, they found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, what they call the scroll of the war of the Messiah, that created a lot of headlines back in 1991 when it was discovered. And in that scroll, it talked about this leader who would come and war at the time of the end. In other words, putting the enemy to death. And again, there are some correlations there with even what we find in the Dead Sea Scrolls and some of these other writings that are extra biblical writings, because they were dealing with this apocalyptic era. They were speaking of some of these things that we find here. But it also says that his eyes were like a flame of fire. And that corresponds with Revelation chapter one, verse 14, and also chapter two and verse 18. So these descriptions are mentioned throughout the book. His head and his hair were white like wool and white as snow. Too often, people use, you know, a text like this to try to talk about Christ and his physical appearance at this point. And I don't think it has anything to do with it, particularly in terms of what he looks like at this point. But some people, you know, will try to use that as descriptive of him. But we got to remember that in the book of Revelation, we're talking about things that are symbolic, things that are figurative. And these are symbols in which Christ is being portrayed from one perspective or in one perspective or another. And then it says that his eyes were like a flame of fire. Now, John spoke of seven spirits who were before his throne in Revelation one and verse four. And in chapter four and verse five, he says, and from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, thunderings, and voices. Even my computer doesn't like that word. It always marks it out as a bad spelling, but that's the way it's written in scripture. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And I believe this just refers to Christ revealing himself through the spirit and meaning that Jesus did not judge according to the sight of the eyes, neither reproved after the hearing of his ears, as Isaiah 11 and verse three. And that's one of the passages that is referred to in this language that we find in Revelation chapter 19. And then it says on his head were many crowns. Revelation 11 and verse 15, when the seventh angel sounded, the text says the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And, you know, again, there's another chapter that deals with things that are coming to pass at the time of the end. That's when Christ is, you know, made Lord of Lord and king of kings, when the kingdoms of the world have been conquered. But the scripture also says that that was the time of God's wrath. That was the time when the dead would be judged, meaning the resurrection and judgment. And it's the time in which he would give reward to his saints. Well, just take that concept and look at Revelation chapter 21 and verse 12, where he talked about he was coming quickly and his reward was with him. That's Matthew chapter 16, verses 27 and 28. That says the son of man is about to come in the glory of his father with his angels. And then he will reward each according to his work. And he says, assuredly, there are some standing here who will not die, will not taste death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. So that again, demonstrates the events were to happen in the lifetime of those who live in the first century. It happened within that generation. And again, it places the marriage and all of the events of which we have spoken up to this point in that. Now, some people say that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and Jesus Christ. And they use the singular, but I think the text, particularly the accepted text has a more accurate rendering when it talks about the kingdoms, because he has many crowns and with the many crowns indicating that he has conquered all the kingdoms of the world. And, you know, that again, to me is, is a significant point. Now, when we're looking at Isaiah chapter 11, verses five and six, it says, but with righteousness, he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meat of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness, the belt of his waist. And when we look at these repeated references to righteousness, it again demonstrates the nature of the reign of Christ, but it's not simply the nature of the reign of Christ. I think it also demonstrates the nature of the resurrection, which we will have an opportunity to talk about as well, because all of this is done in righteousness. And it shows just like the text says, you know, he is called faithful and true, but in righteousness, he judges. And that goes back to verse three that, you know, talked about, he doesn't judge by the sight of his eyes, nor by the hearing of his ears, but he does so in righteousness. And so we cannot underestimate the nature of this war and that it's not about, you know, physical destruction and military warfare from the perspective of the nature of the reign of Christ, which has been indicated, even though we do know that a part of that reign in destroying his enemies did involve a literal war. It did involve the war against Jerusalem and the destruction of Jerusalem, which was brought on through the Romans, but it was because of the righteousness of God that caused that. We saw in chapter 18, all of the earlier chapters in terms of the persecution, in terms of their failure to repent, in terms of the long suffering of God that had been given on their behalf and their refusal to obey their continuous idolatries and sorceries and thefts, et cetera, that had mentioned. And of course, their paganism and committing fornication with the nations of the world, all of these were the reasons that God brought judgment upon them and it was his righteous judgment. Well, I know we got started a little bit late this morning due to the fact that we had some computer problems and we might be able to push just a couple of more minutes here in terms of the lesson since we got a little bit of a late start. But from that perspective, he's also going to bring peace to the poor and save the children of the needy and he will break in pieces the oppressor. Now, these last verses echo what we have in the second Psalm that is also quoted in Revelation 2, 25 through 27, and where he was going to break them in pieces like the potter's vessel and rule over them with the rod of iron. But the scripture also indicates that that's what he would do for those who overcame as well. Let's look at those passages very quickly. In Revelation 2, 25, he says, but hold fast what you have till I come, and he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. I just did recently a couple of videos on that. I think they're now posted to YouTube and I would encourage you to go back and watch those if you haven't watched them already, where I go into some detail on this passage concerning the power over the nations. And the idea that this is to be restricted only to those in the first century just doesn't work. It says he will rule them with the rod of iron or even to talk about, well, this is what they will do in a post-life experience. But that doesn't seem to work particularly when you look at Revelation 5 in verse 10 that talks about the saints reigning on the earth. In another passage, chapter 3 in verse 21, Jesus tells them that the one who overcomes, he would grant to sit on his throne even as he sat with his father on his throne, indicating that the reign of Christ does not cease. We've already looked at that in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 3, I believe, where it talks about the Lord God omnipotent has reigned and he reigns forever into the age. But nevertheless, he says, he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end, to him, I will give power over the nations. That's the result of his reign. That's what happened or the result of the person enduring to the end, just like the Lord said in Matthew 24, verse 13, but he who endures to the end, the same shall be saved, et cetera. And the gospel had to be preached in all the nations, et cetera, and then shall the end come. But that was not the end of the gospel. That was not the end of the work of God. It was not the end of the kingdom. As we've seen at mentioned in Revelation 11 and verse 15, he says, he shall rule them with the rod of iron. They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels. As I also have received from my father and I will give him the morning star. My intentions were to also do a separate lesson on this morning star, but we can see from a text like second Peter chapter one that the morning star or the day star would arise in their hearts. And that is a reference to Christ. And, you know, I have tremendous difficulty with people seeing Christ as the inheritance. And then on the other hand, claiming that the inheritance comes to an end or that Christ comes to an end. It just doesn't work from that perspective in second Peter chapter one, verse 19, he says, and so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. So this text in Revelation 2, 25 through 28 definitely refers to those events that result from the coming of Christ. And therefore, these would be a part of the reward that is given to the saints. Now in the next part, and by the way, I would suggest that you read the 72nd Psalm in connection with this as well, because it is a Psalm that talks about the reign of Jesus being eternal, that it would be without end. And he talks about in his days, the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace until the moon is no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles will bring presents. The Kings of Sheba and Sheba will offer gifts. Yes, all the Kings shall fall down before him. All the nations shall serve him. And so that goes back to Revelation 11 and verse 15 and the other Revelation 2, 25 through 27, where it talks about having power over the nations. And I know that there's a good argument that can be made that nations in that text refers to Israel, just like in Matthew 25. But there are other passages that indicate that this reign is a universal unending reign. And then the text says he has a name written that no man knows except himself. Now that's a bit of a difficult verse in the text, because if it's a name that no man knows except Christ himself, then how are we going to know it? That is said, however, both of Christ and of his disciples, that there was a name that he had written that no one knew except himself. You can see also in Revelation 2, 17, he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes, I will give of the hidden manatee and I will give him a white stone and on the stone, a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. So what is said about Christ is said also about the disciples. Now, in my judgment, there are two ways to know something. You can know of something by someone telling you or revealing it to you, or by you discovering it through your own research, et cetera. But there's another way to know something on a more experiential manner in which you experience something, which nobody necessarily has to tell you. And I think that because Christ alone has this name, and let me just throw in a couple of other passages that might help support the thought that I'm trying to convey here, and this will be our last point for sure. But the word know is sometimes used for one who experiences something. And of course, individuals can have their own particular experience that no one else may even know, but they know it from that perspective. And so we know by experience and not by being told or taught. The scripture says he's been given a name, which is above every name, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. Who else in the world experiences that particular virtue of Christ, that he has a name above every name, not only in the age that was present, but the age to come. And there will never be a name greater than that. So in that sense, it could be a name written that no man knows, but that's something that only Christ experiences from that point of view. And then we have the text in Philippians chapter 2 that says, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. No one would have a name that has such a rank as that. I'm not sure that that's necessarily the case, but it just kind of supports the idea that you can have something or know something through experience without it necessarily being something that was revealed. And I don't see anything else in the scripture that particularly or specifically refers to that name, but we do know that with the name, the power, the authority, et cetera, of Christ, and a person's name stands for everything that they are, no one has such a name as that of Christ. Well, that's pretty much the message for today. I see that we have several people who've joined us. There's Dale and Deb and Matthew. Who else? We have, looks like Robin, Eric, Tyrone, Stephen, and Connie, and several others. Rod is here, and I'm sure that others will be here. So be sure and share the message. If you have any comments, we'll post it to YouTube, and so you can leave your comments there or leave them here on Facebook. In addition, we'll post our newsletter link so that you can share that as well. We continue to get people who subscribe. We continue to get people who appreciate the messages that are coming out, and we do know that we need to update some as well, and so we'll be doing that in the very near future. With that, I want to say thank you for tuning in this morning, and may God bless you all. Let's see if we can find our way out of here.