The Return of the King of Kings.
Revelation 19:6-8
Chapter nineteen focuses on
the Lord Jesus Christ coming and defeating the cosmic system, which is the
devil’s system which he has used to rule over the human race ever since the
fall of Adam. As its crystallized form in Babylon as a thought system that comes out of the rebellion
of Nimrod (Gen. 11)—antagonism to God and arrogance—it comes to its final and
most horrible and tyrannical form in the kingdom of the Antichrist, and it is
depicted as being centered in the rebuilt Babylon in the end times. Also this Babylon in the end times has a tremendous economic influence
over the world and because of it the money leads, as it so often does, to
spiritual slavery.
In verses 11-16 see the
return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and really on six verses are given to that. To
flush out all of the details we have to look at a number of other passages in
the Old Testament. He begins to descend from heaven in v. 11 NASB
“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it {is}
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.” He
continues with the description in vv. 12, 13 but these give more of a physical
description whereas v. 11 focuses on more of a character description in terms
of His qualification to be the one who judges and makes war in righteousness.
He is going to return on a white horse. Remember in Revelation 6:1, the first
seal judgment, a rider goes forth conquering and to conquer and he is riding a
white horse. That is the Antichrist who is acting as a substitute or pseudo
messiah. This is not the same white horse in chapter 19 or same rider as in the
seal judgments. It is the same kind of thing that we see in Revelation chapter
one which is a picture of purification and is an emphasis that He is righteous
and holy. It is a physical picture of the kind of statement that John makes in
1 John 1 that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. So from the very
beginning to the end of Revelation we see this depiction of Jesus, that He is
the righteous and true judge. This is what is described by His character when
we read Revelation and the title that is given to Him: “…He who sat on it {is}
called Faithful and True...” He is qualified to judge. “… and in righteousness
He judges and wages war.” The Greek uses the preposition en [e)n] which frequently
has an instrumental idea—e.g. by means of righteousness he judges and by means
of righteousness he makes war. So righteousness is going to characterize the
judgment of all mankind and the war that He brings against the earth dwellers
and the kings of the earth, the Antichrist, the false prophet and the dragon
and his fallen angels.
Revelation 19:12 NASB “His eyes {are} a flame of fire, and
on His head {are} many diadems; and He has a name written {on Him} which no one
knows except Himself.” Cf. Rev. 1:14. Now He is depicted as a ruler. Revelation
1:12, 13 depicted Him more as a priest-judge. He hadn’t been crowned yet; He
had not received the kingdom. Remember that in Daniel chapter seven it is the
Son of Man who comes before the Ancient of days and is given the kingdom, and
then it is the Son of Man who comes to establish His kingdom. So the Lord isn’t
given His kingdom until the end of the Tribulation period. He is now depicted
as having many crowns; He is the sovereign ruler. The idea of naming in Hebrew
culture and in the Bible is the idea of describing character. This shows that
there is some aspect of His character related to what will happen when He
returns, something we are going to learn that is new. The statement “His eyes
are like a flame of fire” always emphasizes the knowledge of God. Eyes are
often used in Scripture to depict the omniscience of God. It indicates His
piercing vision into all aspects of human culture and history. He sees
everything, He knows everything, and the flame of fire indicates that it is a
purifying judgment. Cf. 2 Chronicles 16:9; Proverbs 5:21. Then in a passages
that connects the eyes of the Lord to the final judgment, Amos 9:8 NASB
“‘Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from
the face of the earth; Nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of
Jacob,’ Declares the LORD.” This shows the contrast between the sinful kingdom,
meaning the kingdom of man (kingdom of Babylon ultimately), and Israel. The remnant of Israel will survive; the kingdom of man will be destroyed.
Revelation 19:14 NASB
“And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white {and} clean,
were following Him on white horses.” Not only is the Lord riding a white horse
but those in the armies coming with Him are on white horses. At the very least
this implies that at the very least there are some animals in heaven. We are
told here that there are two armies at least coming with the Lord when He
returns. The use of the word “linen” here takes us back to other passages in
the New Testament. In the letters to the seven churches those who are
overcomers will be clothed in white linen, referring to the church. The
resurrected and rewarded church will be accompanying the Lord, as well as an
army of angels. Matthew 16:27 NASB “For the Son of Man is going to
come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.” The phrase “every man according to his works” is
referring to the judgment that comes on the nations (Gentiles) and the
believers in the nations at the end of the Tribulation period. This is not
talking about the judgment seat of Christ. Jude 14, 15 NASB “{It
was} also about these men {that} Enoch, {in} the seventh {generation} from
Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His
holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the
ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and
of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” Here we
have one of the most unusual references to a non-canonical book, Enoch. Enoch
lived before the flood. He obviously knew the Lord very well (Heb. 11). So a
non-canonical book is attributed to Enoch because part of it, one statement, is
quoted by the writer of Scripture does not mean that Enoch is to be considered
to be canonical or inspired; it is just like any other book that is written
outside of the Bible without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There can be
truth in it, and so there is some truth in it and it is quoted by Jude. The
quote comes from 1 Enoch 1:9. This is just a reference to the fact that when
the Lord returns His saints or holy ones will be with Him. So there is an army
of church age believers (the bride of Christ) and an army of angels that will
accompany Him, but the Lord is not going to use them to bring about the defeat.
It is interesting that when
He returns at the second coming He is going to be fighting and he alone is
going to be the one to fight. Isaiah 63:3 NASB “I [Jesus Christ]
have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with
Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their
lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment.” We are
going to be there as witnesses. Revelation 19:13 NASB “{He is} clothed with a robe dipped
in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” That is a reference to the
first part of Isaiah 63.
Isaiah 63:1 NASB
“Who is this who comes from Edom” … in the south eastern part of Israel… “With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This
One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength?
‘It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save [deliver].’” This
emphasizes righteousness and physical
deliverance again. The Lord comes to Bozrah to rescue the remnant of Israel and then He is going to lead them with Judah out in front, just as when they marched through the
wilderness, and He will lead them from Bozrah to Jerusalem.
Isaiah 63:2 NASB
“Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine
press?” We have seen in Revelation 15 the imagery of the treading of the grapes
in the wine press as a very visual image of the judgment, the horrors of all of
the bloodshed and violence that will occur, in the destruction leading up to
and including the whole Armageddon campaign. So the reference in Revelation 19:13 picks up on these other allusions in Isaiah 63. “…His
name is called The Word of God.” Cf. John 1:1. This is the title for the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the Word of God or the incarnation and revelation of
God.
Revelation 19:15 NASB
“From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the
nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press
of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.” There are three elements in this verse
that refer to different aspects of what is going on here. The sword is not the machaira [maxaira]
sword, the short sword, that the Roman soldiers carried with them that was both
a defensive and an offensive weapon, a weapon that was used in close quarters
combat; this was a rhomphaia [r(omfaia] which was a long broad sword. This is not the first
time we have seen a reference to a rhomphaia
in Revelation. In the description of the Lord Jesus Christ when He appeared to
John on the Isle of Patmos, we read in Revelation 1:16, “In His right hand He
held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword [rhomphaia]…” That is used for bringing
about judgment. It is referred to again in Revelation 2:12 in the letter to the
church at Pergamum where the emphasis is on their disobedience and on
the Lord’s discipline on that church if they don’t repent. This is repeated
again in 2:16.
The phrase “striking the
nations” in Revelation 19:15
leads naturally into the next phrase, “and He will rule them with a rod of
iron.” That phrase comes right out of Psalm 2, as does the imagery of Him
coming to do war against the nations. Psalm 2 is one of the most quoted Psalms
in the New Testament and it is a prophecy looking forward to the time of the
Battle of Armageddon and the events that led up to it. David writes this in
anticipation of the war between God and His anointed, the Messiah, and the
kings of the nations. So the question is asked at the beginning: “Why are the
nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing?” The idea of vanity
is that it is something like smoke, something that doesn’t last and is of no
significance. [2] “The kings of the earth [representing the nations] take their
stand And the rulers take counsel together”… a conspiracy to overthrow the rule
of God… “Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, [3] ‘Let us tear
their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!’” This is the mindset of
man in rebellion against God: he sees God’s authority as simply something that
is restrictive, something that keeps him from doing what he wants to do. But
what is God’s response? [4] “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs
at them. [5] Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His
fury, saying, [6] But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon
Zion, My holy mountain.” Wrath/anger speaks of His judgment finally in the
Tribulation period. He is going to establish His King, the anointed one, on Zion’s hill in Jerusalem.
Then there is a public
proclamation of a previously established decree. And this is the Son speaking,
verse 7 NASB “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to
Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’” This is not referring to the
birth of the Messiah, it is referring to the Lord in eternity past making a
decision related to the role and destiny of the second person of the Trinity.
[8] ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the
{very} ends of the earth as Your possession.’” It is at this point when the Son
is coming back that the Father says to the Son, to ask for the nation as His
inheritance. This connects to Daniel chapter seven. The Son of Man comes to the
Ancient of days and is given the kingdom at that point, just at the end of the
Tribulation. So the Son is not the King yet. The Son of Man asks the Father and
the Father gives it to Him, and then He returns to the earth and establishes
His kingdom.
Think about it this way. The
picture that we have historically in the Old Testament to communicate this is
the picture of David and Saul. Saul is anointed the king of Israel and he reigns for forty years. Somewhere about
fifteen years before his forty years are up he has become so disobedient and
rebellious toward God that God says He is going to take the kingdom from him
(it hasn’t happened yet) and is going to give it to someone else. Saul, even
though he is a believer, is a type of Satan at this point and God is going to
give the kingdom to His ruler. But Saul continues to reign for approximately
another fifteen years or so until it is time for David to become the king. At
that point when God told Saul He was going to take the kingdom from him he sent
Samuel to the house of Jessie and he anointed David to be the king. Was David
the king? Was David called the king? No! David was still taking care of the
sheep and nobody really knew what he was doing until the Goliath episode
occurred, and after he killed Goliath he apparently went back into obscurity
for a while. But he is not called the king. Finally there is the Battle of
Gilboa where Saul and Jonathan are killed and only at that point does David
actually become the king, and is called the king. He is never called the king
during that interim period between his anointing and the crowning. The same
thing is true about Jesus. He is sent to the earth, there was the announcement
and offer of the kingdom during the period when He was on the earth during the
incarnation, but then he is rejected. During the period of His rejection the
church is like David out in the wilderness and on the ‘outs,’ and it is not
until the king of the earth (Satan) is defeated and destroyed that Jesus then
take the crown and becomes the King.
Psalm 2:9 NASB
“You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like
earthenware.” The phrase “rod of iron” is a key phrase for understanding the
role of the Lord Jesus Christ when he establishes His reign over the nations.
Then in the next three verses of the Psalm there is instruction to the human
race.
Psalm 2:10 NASB “Now therefore, O kings,
show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.” David is now taking a
present application in light of their future destiny. [11] “Worship the LORD with
reverence And rejoice with trembling. [12] Do homage to the Son, that He not
become angry, and you perish {in} the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” So Psalm 2 comes to fulfillment at
the end of the Tribulation period when the Lord returns and establishes His reign
with a rod of iron.
Revelation 19:15 NASB
“From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the
nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press
of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.” This picks up that same imagery that
we saw in Isaiah 63. Then the response, Isaiah 63:3 NASB “I have
trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I
also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood
is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. [4] For the day of
vengeance [Just retribution for sin] was in My heart, And My year of redemption
has come.” When is that? When the Lord comes back at the second coming, so this
passage in Isaiah 63 has to be speaking about the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ. [5] “I looked, and there was no
one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm
brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. [6] I trod down the peoples in
My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on
the earth.” That is the same imagery that there is with the kings of the earth,
the rulers of the earth, raging against the Lord and against His anointed in
Psalm 2.
But it never stops with
just the justice of God, the Scripture always goes on to speak of the grace of
God. Isaiah 63:7 NASB “ I shall make mention of the
lovingkindnesses [chesed] of the LORD, the
praises of the LORD, According to all that the LORD has granted
us, And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has granted
them according to His compassion And according to the abundance of His
lovingkindnesses. [8] For He said, “Surely, they are My people, Sons who will
not deal falsely.” So He became their Savior. [9] In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the
angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed
them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.” This relates
this back to how he redeemed them at the time of the exodus. The point of
Isaiah 63 is to reflect upon the Lord’s goodness is rescuing Israel from
slavery in Egypt and then connecting that to what He will do when He rescues
and delivers the remnant from where they have fled after the abomination of
desolation at the mid-point of the Tribulation down into the hills in the
wilderness.
Revelation 19:16 NASB “And on His robe and on His thigh He
has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND
LORD OF LORDS.’” This pictures Him in
terms of His role and who he is. This is the first time we see the Lord
depicted as the reigning King in the Scripture.
There are other passages
that describe how His appearance will take place. Matthew 24:30 NASB
“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the
tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.” Acts 1:11 NASB “They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why
do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you
into heaven, will come in just the same
way [not place] as you have watched Him go into heaven.’” He went in the
clouds. Clouds in Scripture are often associated with the Shekinah presence of
the Lord. All who see Him will grieve because they are lost and their judgment
has drawn nigh to them.
Illustrations