Test one two. All right. There we go.
It’s good to see everyone this morning.
It’s good to see a face we haven’t seen in
a while.
Someone finally repented and came back
from Louisiana.
Sorry. Did I say that out loud?
Good to have Tanya with us. ~ take your
Bibles,
if you will, and open them to the book of
Revelation.
We are in chapter nineteen.
Uhhuh.
We’ll get into our study i in just a
moment,
but let’s begin with a word of prayer.
A gracious Father in Heaven, we come
before your throne grateful
for the opportunity that we have to be
able to study your word,
to join in fellowship with your body,
to praise your name, to sing songs of
praise to you,
to remember your Son and the sacrifice and
the offering that was made on our behalf,
to examine ourselves whether or not we are
in the faith.
To look at our lives and see w if we’re
walking in the light as you
are in the light. And Lord, as we look
through this book,
as we know it, the Book of Revelation,
we pray that we might look and examine our
own lives to see whether or
not we are those who truly dwell in
heaven.
Lord, we pray that you be with us as we go
throughout this day.
May all that we say and do be right and in
accordance with your will.
And may we grow in wisdom, in knowledge,
in stature, in faith, in holiness each and
every day.
We pray for those who are struggling
because of illness.
We pray for those who are dealing with the
hardships of caring for others
and being caregivers. And we pray for
those who are dealing with ongoing
difficulties. We pray that you give them
strength and give them their desired
position in life and care.
the ability to endure through the
hardships that this life brings.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
As we’ve discussed the book of Revelation,
we’ve mentioned over and over again,
and it bears mentioning again,
that the book of Revelation is not
presented
in a strict timeline of events order.
The book of Revelation will go through and
tell you something’s going to happen,
and then it will go back up and it will
discuss it in more detail.
And then it will go through go forward and
then it will back up and
it will discuss something else in more
detail.
And it will give you picture after picture
of what is going on
and what you’re supposed to draw from it.
What many people struggle to do in
understanding the book of Revelation
is they try and make every single scene,
as it were, a new event happening in a
progression.
And so they’re expecting because this
happened at one point,
then it’s sometime in the future before
the next thing in the next chapter
happens.
When in reality the thing that was just
discussed and the thing that’s being
discussed in this chapter might be right
in line with one another,
just a zoomed-in view to examine the
detail of what
is being discussed. That’s what’s going on
in Revelation.
Chapter 19. In Revelation chapter 19,
you have a discussion of things that were
already presented in the victory scene
in Revelation 16, and the victory scene in
Revelation 17,
and the victory scene in Revelation 18.
It’s just a different picture for the
Christians
to realize you win. And you win in victory
over Rome
so thoroughly.
that it’s gonna be like a marriage feast
is happening.
Back in the first century, especially
among the Jewish cultures,
~ w what length of time was a common
marriage feast?
A week, all the way up to a month.
Now, bear in mind, agrarian cultures could
do that.
All right? You you put the seed in the
ground,
you have the harvest, and then you have
the time in between the harvest
and the next time to plant. There’s a lot
of farmers that take vacations
at very specific times of year because
they don’t have anything to do.
So they could be gone for a month.
Well, often it was that case.
In this day and time, they could afford to
take a week to go to
a marriage feast because the marriage
happened at a time of year where they
could.
Well, what if you were under threat,
under attack, constantly under siege by an
enemy?
Do you think you’d take a whole week for
the marriage feast?
No. If you picture in your mind what
Nehemiah,
the book of Nehemiah, tells us about what
Israel was doing in Jerusalem
as they were rebuilding the wall that had
been torn down by the enemies that were
around them, that had been burned,
and that they had
No protection for the city of Jerusalem.
You read there in the book of Nehemiah,
because of their enemies, because of the
threat that they were under,
because they were building the wall to
defend themselves,
they were constantly aware,
and it describes a point in which they had
basically a sword in one hand
and they were building with the other.
They weren’t taking a day off to have a
marriage feast.
They weren’t taking a week off to have a
marriage feast.
They were constantly on guard and
constantly building because without that
they were going to perish.
The threat was such that they could not
even
put down the sword to build with two
hands.
So when God pictures the Christians coming
out of the persecution of Rome,
the persecution of the great harlot,
the persecution of the great city,
the persecution that would come in the
eighth head,
which was Domitian, it pictures the defeat
of God’s enemies
so completely that the church could go
have a marriage feast.
That the church could celebrate with not a
concern in their mind
of the threat that Satan could bring
through Rome.
That’s the picture of Revelation 19.
That the enemy has been so completely
vanquished.
Everybody can lay down their sword.
Everybody can lay down their defenses.
Everybody can relax and rejoice.
You pick up in chapter 11 or chapter 19,
verse 11. 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.
His eyes were like a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns.
He had a name written that no one knew
except himself.
I want to point out something that’s
interesting.
~ How many heads are on the beast?
There were seven, and then one was as if
it was killed,
and then another one came up. So there’s
eight total when it’s all said and done.
How many horns are on the beast?
Ten. All right, because we’re told there
were seven heads and ten horns.
And then another horn. So eleven.
Alright, so you’ve got eight heads,
you’ve got eleven horns.
And we’re told that all the horns were
kings.
They were subservient kings to Rome.
When you see the picture of Christ,
how many heads? One.
But how many crowns?
Doesn’t give us an exact number,
but is it one or is it multiples?
As a matter of fact, as he is described
here,
he had many crowns.
If you were to think about it this way.
Imagine if someone got a crown every time
they won.
If you were to think about the Olympics,
in our modern day and time, you invariably
have somebody who ends
up at the Olympics, summer, winter,
doesn’t matter, that just dominates in a
particular arena.
So much so that by the end they’ve got.
Gold medal after gold medal after gold
medal after gold medal after gold medal
and then whatever team they’re on in the
team sport has a gold medal
and a gold medal and a gold they just
dominated.
I’m gonna leave that comment where it is.
And
That’s the picture of Christ here.
When you look at Christ,
it was as if in the vision you got one
head because
he didn’t die. There was no transition
from him to somebody else.
There’s no other ruler. There’s no one
like Christ.
By the way, when it comes to the church,
there is, according to the book of
Ephesians,
one what?
One body, and how many heads do typically
bodies have?
One. There’s one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all.
There’s one head when you see Christ.
But on top of that head in the vision,
crown, crown, crown, crown, defeated
enemy,
defeated enemy, defeated enemy,
defeated enemy, defeated enemy.
No losses.
All victories. They’re undefeated.
He is undefeated.
So notice in the picture: his eyes were
like a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns.
He had a name written that no one knew
except himself.
I mentioned as we came through this
passage last week that we were going
to come back to this idea.
The idea of a name which no one knew,
~ what good would it be if you have a name
and I don’t know
it if I’m trying to get your attention?
Not all that useful. So you might look at
that and say,
well, so is are we saying that everyone’s
a stranger to him?
Nobody knows his name? That’s not the
idea.
The idea here is much like the picture
in the Old Testament where God will work
with an individual,
God will have a relationship with someone,
and then through the course of time,
God will give them a
A new name.
Abram, Abram, Abram, Abram, Abram,
Abram, Abram, until a certain point where
God says,
I’m calling you Abraham. Sarai,
Sarai, Sarai, Sarai, Sarai, Sarai,
Sarah. Saul,
Saul, Saul, Saul, Saul, Paul. Cephas,
Cephas, Cephas, Cepha, Peter. God hands
out
all through Scripture names.
And the name is never just a way to
reference the person.
The name is always saturated with meaning,
with connotation, with character in
relationship
to that person and God.
And so God here
in describing Christ describes him as
someone who God
has given a name that is entirely unique
to him.
It’s not the idea that no one would know
how to call him that name,
it is the idea that there is no one else
that has that name.
There is no one else who shares that.
That character in relationship to God.
But notice as you carry that idea forward
that you’re going to
see some other things about names before
we get out of the text.
He was clothed with a robe dipped in
blood,
and his name is called the Word of God.
Now, wait a minute, I thought you just
told us there was a name that no one knew.
And then you come around and tell us what
the name is?
Yeah. Nobody knew because
it was about God giving the name.
It was in the mind of God that the name
was there.
Interestingly, where in all of scripture
is Jesus referenced as the word of God
until John writes it in John chapter one.
He’s not. It isn’t until God,
through John, gives Jesus
the declaration of the word
of God that we’re ever told.
Now, was Jesus the word of God in that
function
all the way back in the beginning?
Absolutely. That’s what John tells us.
John tells us that from before creation,
Jesus in his relationship to the Father,
in his role in the Godhead,
was the Word of God. Notice the text.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God and was God.
He had the role, the position,
and the function before the world was
created,
and we’re never told about it for 4,000
years.
Until God through John says He’s the word.
A name that no one knew.
And then John’s like, and by the way,
the name was the Word of God.
God knew something about Christ.
And didn’t tell anybody. Now, when you
read it in John 1 and then
you go backward through the Old Testament,
you are saturated with meaning in the Old
Testament when you realize references
to Christ and things that occur in Christ
and the descriptions,
even in John Genesis chapters 1 and 2,
God spoke and it was done.
And John tells us through him God created
all things,
and without him was not anything made that
was made.
But we’re not told that in Genesis.
We’re not told that in Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
We’re not told that in the Old Testament
anywhere.
There’s a saying that often goes around
houses
by parents to children. You don’t have to
tell everything you know.
Because children have a habit of saying
the thing that not everybody wanted said.
Because they know something that nobody
else knows.
And they just blurt it out.
God here says, I kept a secret.
I held back from
you for generations. Something you would
eventually learn,
because I’d eventually reveal it.
That shouldn’t surprise us. Paul tells us
about that all the time.
Paul talks about mysteries that existed in
the Old Testament,
which God reveals in the church.
All through the years of God and Israel
and marriage and all of the things that
God had done, you would never have known
when God
was giving Moses the ordinances for the
tabernacle that he would
be explaining in pictures the church.
But when you put the types and the
anti-types together,
you find him not only explaining the
pictures of the church,
you also find him explaining heaven.
But he didn’t tell them that when he gave
them the ordinances for the tabernacle.
He said, put a drape here, make it this,
make it of this kind of cloth,
put this garment on it, put this or put
this helm on it,
do this, wear this, build this.
And he never once said, and by the way,
I’m explaining to you spiritual matters
that you do not yet understand.
Christ had a name. It was the word of God.
And notice the armies in heaven,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Stark contrast, by the way. Here’s the one
on the white horse. How is he arrayed?
How is he adorned?
In a robe dipped in blood.
Then you see in the picture all of his
armies,
all of his soldiers. How are they arrayed?
Not a speck on
Now, what army are you aware of where
there’s multitudes
and millions in the army and the only one
who goes out to fight is the king?
Don’t think that’s the way it normally
works.
But in the Lord’s army, that’s how it
works.
Because the one who never loses is the
king.
And he comes out of the victory covered in
blood,
and everybody comes out.
Pure white.
By the way, if you’re ~ prepping for war
and you’re ~ you you’re at the closet,
right? It’s like, ~ today’s battle day.
I think I’m wearing the fine linen.
I think that’s the right choice for the
battle.
It’s definitely gonna hold up,
right?
No, the Lord is wearing a robe dipped in
blood,
he has defeated his enemies, he has been
victorious,
and all of his armies get the benefit.
All of the Christians come out of it,
adorned in fine linen, clothed in white,
arrayed in the righteousness of.
The works of the saints.
They don’t look defeated. They’re not
arrayed
for war because he won the battle.
Turn to Hebrews chapter two for a moment.
Actually we’re gonna start in chapter one.
Chapter 1, verse 8, but to the Son,
he says, these are all Old Testament
passages the Hebrew writer is bringing
to bear on explaining why Christ is better
than everything else.
He says, And to his son, he says,
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of righteousness is a scepter of
your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated
lawlessness.
Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness more than your
companions. And you, Lord,
in the beginning laid the foundation of
the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your
hands,
they will perish, but you will remain,
they will all grow old like a garment,
like a cloak, you will fold them up,
and they will be changed, but you are the
same,
and your years will not fail. Now
The Hebrew writer, as he quotes Psalm 102
in this second passage,
takes this and says, You would have
thought that was talking about the Father.
But that wasn’t talking about the Father.
When he says you laid the foundations of
the earth,
it’s talking about Christ.
And that your reign, your years will never
fail?
Talking about Christ. But notice what else
he says.
But to which of his angels has he ever
said,
Sit at my right hand till I make your
enemies your footstool?
Are they not all ministering spirits sent
forth to minister for those
who will inherit salvation? The Hebrew
writer says,
Do you not realize that all the angels,
all the messengers from heaven,
all the spiritual beings are here as
ministers on behalf of those
who are being saved?
And they’re helping those who are being
saved?
Because God’s defeating Christ’s enemies.
And He’s going to put all of His enemies
under His feet.
Now notice what he says: therefore we must
give the more earnest heed
to the things that we have heard,
lest we drift away. For if the word spoken
through angels proved steadfast,
and every transgression and disobedience
received a just reward,
how shall we escape if we neglect so great
a salvation?
Which at the first began to be spoken by
the Lord and was confirmed to
us by those who heard him. God also
bearing witness,
both with signs and wonders, with various
miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
according to his own will. The Hebrew
writer says,
Do you not realize that we didn’t just we
didn’t just read these things?
We haven’t surmised these things from our
deep study of the Old Testament.
These were the things that were spoken to
us.
They were confirmed by miracles,
they were attested to by that which God
said,
by Christ Himself, and they are assured
through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
There’s no doubt about anything I’m saying
to you.
He goes to verse five. For he has put the
world to come,
of which we speak in subjection to angels,
but one testified in a certain place,
saying, What is man that you are mindful
of him,
or the Son of Man that you’d take care of
him?
You have made him a little lower than the
angels,
and crowned him with glory and honor,
and set him over the works of your hands,
you have put all things in subjection
under his feet.
And you read that in the Old Testament,
when David writes it, and you go,
he’s talking about humanity.
For in that he put all in subjection under
him,
he left nothing that is not put under him.
But now we do not yet see all things put
under him.
The human writer says, He’s not talking
about humanity.
He’s talking about Christ.
That he made Christ lower than the angels.
That he did so so that he could put Christ
in a position
to die for his brethren.
Because they could never win the battle.
He could. And he could do it once for all
time.
Watch this. For it was fitting for him,
for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things,
him bringing many sons to glory to make
the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. For both he who
sanctifies and those who
are being sanctified are all of one,
for which reason he is not ashamed to call
them brethren.
Saying, I will declare your name to my
brethren.
In the midst of the assembly I will sing
praise to you,
and again I will put my trust in him,
and again here am I, and the children whom
God has given me.
Inasmuch then as the children are have
partaken of flesh and blood,
he himself likewise shared in the same,
that through death he might destroy him
who had the power of death,
that is the devil.
Why is Jesus the only one arrayed in a
robe dipped with blood?
Because he was the sacrifice. Because he
was the victor.
But his victory wasn’t in life,
it was in death.
And as we come to the book of Revelation,
you might say, Well, wait a minute,
Aaron, but that happened before Domitian
ever came to the throne.
Christ Christ reigned and died on the
cross,
AD 33, not AD ninety-six.
You’re right.
Pause a moment and consider when
did God end the nation of Israel as his
people?
A.D. 33 was Jesus hung on the cross.
When Christ was nailed to the cross,
we’re told that the Old Testament,
the laws, the ordinances, the thing which
held them in bondage to that point
was nailed to the cross too.
In the days leading up to it, Jesus made
the declaration that
on this generation that was alive at that
moment in time,
all the blood of all the righteous
prophets that Israel had killed
in all their history was coming on that
generation.
Their defeat was signed,
sealed, delivered, A.D. 33, when Jesus
hung on that cross.
When did the city of Jerusalem fall?
eighty seventy.
Thirty seven years later, the entire
lifespan Jesus walked the earth and then
some.
So did Jesus not fulfill what he said in
ending Israel?
he most certainly did.
The fact of their defeat was done.
The fact of the end of them as God’s
people was finished when Jesus went
to that cross. The rest is just the
details playing out.
When Daniel
in the vision sees in Daniel chapter seven
this fourth beast
and he sees him consuming the saints and
he sees him destroying everything
in sight and sees him so monstrous in his
character that he can’t even describe him.
And he wonders at the beast.
Daniel’s told by the messenger,
what are you worried about? Who are you
wondering for?
I’m gonna tell you how he ends.
He’s slain. He’s destroyed.
And the Christ, the Messiah,
the son of David, is going to ascend back
to his throne.
And he’s going to be there forever.
When Rome is pictured as being defeated,
they’re pictured as being defeated in the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Not in AD 96.
Because in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
Jesus laid the foundation for the church,
the kingdom of God. In Acts chapter 2,
as
Jesus in Acts chapter 1 has said to his
apostles,
You remain in Jerusalem until you are
endued with power from on high,
and you will be witnesses to me in
Jerusalem,
in Judea, in Samaria, and in the uttermost
part of the earth.
He says, My kingdom will cover the planet,
and you win. Now,
when was that enacted? It was enacted in
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
on the cross and his resurrection from the
dead.
How long did it take? It’s still going on.
And it will till the end of time.
But what Revelation wants you to realize
is that every enemy that will ever
come against the church isn’t defeated in
that moment in time.
They’re defeated before they ever arrive.
They’re defeated before they ever come up.
They’re defeated in the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ on the cross.
There’s not a nation, there’s not a
government,
there’s not a person, there’s not a power,
there is not anyone who will ever defeat
Christ.
And as a result, there’s never anyone who
can defeat the church.
Because when the battle’s over,
you’re going to find the church arrayed in
fine linen,
white and holy, and you’re going to find
there’s that sacrifice again.
That nobody can ever defeat. Turn to
Hebrews chapter nine.
Verse sixteen, for where there is a
testament,
there must also of necessity be the death
of the testator.
For a testament is in force after men are
dead,
since it has no power at all while the
testator lives.
Therefore, not even the first covenant was
dedicated without blood.
For when Moses had spoken every precept to
all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and goats with
water,
scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled
both the book itself and all the people.
In the old testament,
They consecrated, they sprinkled the blood
of the sacrifice on all
the people after the law was given.
Saying, This is the blood of the covenant
which God has commanded you.
Then likewise he sprinkled the blood both
with blood,
both the tabernacle and all the vessels of
the ministry.
And according to the law, almost all
things are purified with blood,
and without shedding of blood there is no
remission.
Therefore it was necessary that the copies
of the things in heaven should
be purified with these, but the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices
than these.
For Christ has not entered the holy places
made with hands,
which are copies of the true, but into
heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for
us.
Not that he should offer himself often.
Notice, the Hebrew writer says,
Listen, don’t you think that your Lord
goes out and dies every time
an enemy comes up? Don’t you think that
your Lord goes out and dies every
day when you sin?
Don’t you imagine that your Lord is put to
death again and again
and again and again? Nonsense.
He says, not that he should offer himself
often.
As the high priest enters the most holy
place every year with the blood of
another,
he then would have would have had to
suffer often since the foundations
of the world. But now, once, at the end of
the ages,
he has appeared to put away sin.
By the sacrifice of what? Himself.
There’s your picture in Revelation
nineteen.
The one on the white horse. He goes forth
judging and making war.
He’s adorned in a robe covered in blood.
Because he is the victor.
He is the conqueror.
He is the king. He
Is the one doing battle, and he is the
sacrifice that defeats every enemy.
So he says, sacrifice of himself,
and as it is appointed for men once to die
once,
but after this the judgment, so Christ was
offered once to bear the sins of many.
To those who eagerly wait for him,
he will appear a second time, apart from
sin.
For salvation.
The Hebrew writer says, listen,
when he comes back, he’s not coming back
to solve the problem again.
He’s coming back to welcome home those who
are righteous.
Okay? So back to Revelation 19.
The armies in heaven clothed in fine
linen,
white and clean, followed him on white
horses,
now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword,
that with it he should strike the nations,
and he himself will rule them with a rod
of iron.
He himself treads the wine press of the
fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty
God.
He we’ve seen this picture over and over
and over again.
I think it’s chapter fourteen,
where the wine press is poured out.
God calls all of his people and says,
Cred out the wine press, end my enemies.
And he has on his robe and on his thigh a
name written,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun.
Pretty hot place, isn’t it? It’s a
picture.
He sees an angel standing in the sun and
cried with a loud voice,
saying to all the birds that fly in the
midst of heaven,
All right, watch the picture. Here’s the
angel.
He’s standing in the sun, and he’s going
to yell out to all the
all the flying creatures of earth.
He calls and says to all the flying
creatures,
the birds of heaven that fly in the midst
of heaven,
come and gather together for the supper of
the great God.
Now, back in Isaiah,
there’s a picture of God defeating his
enemies
to such a degree that,
by the way, the New Testament.
Picture that Jesus uses is Gehenna.
He says, I’m going to defeat my enemies to
such a degree that
the worm never runs out of something to
eat.
Where the worm dieth not,
and the fire is not quenched. We’re going
to burn my enemies,
and the worms are going to consume my
enemies,
and they’re never going to run out of
food.
Well, here’s the picture in Revelation:
God calls the birds.
And notice he says, Come and gather
together for the supper of the great God.
Th this is not a moment in time where
suddenly all of for those of
you who’ve seen Lord of the Rings,
you know, you there’s always that point in
one of the movies,
invariably where the eagles show up and
they either carry someone away
or they defeat the enemy or whatever.
Like the birds arrive just in time.
That’s not the picture here. God says,
Listen, you want to get the vultures over
here?
There’s a lot to eat.
There’s a feast. It’s all of God’s
enemies.
Come on. He says that you may eat the
flesh of kings,
the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty
men,
the flesh of horses, and those who sit on
them,
and the flesh of all people, free and
slave,
both small and great.
So we gotta ask. Is this picture a
physical event that we’re supposed
to be waiting on? We’re supposed to be
waiting on the day where all
the birds of heaven just come in and
attack God’s enemies?
No, that must these these must be 117s.
These are the B 2 bombers, these are the
birds that fly into heaven,
these are the these are the planes that
John was forecasting being part
of this great nuclear war at the end of
No.
Turn back to Matthew chapter six.
And appreciate something that Jesus said.
Connect in your mind these two pictures.
Therefore I say unto you, do not worry
about your life.
Jesus, when he was speaking to the people,
the Jews, the people of God, his
disciples,
said, stop worrying about your
life.
He says, what you will eat or what you
will drink,
nor about your body what you will put on,
is not life more than food and the body
more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for they
neither sow,
nor reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
God provides for his creation.
He provides for the nature that he
created.
He provides for the birds of heaven.
He provides for the animals that he
created.
They glorify him. They glory glorify him
in doing what he created them to do.
And here’s a picture over in Revelation
where God says,
Hey, I got a feast for you.
I’m not just taking care of my people,
I’m gonna take care of my creation too.
I’m gonna let you feed on my enemies.
But remember this Jesus’ point with the
analogy that God takes care
of the birds.
Is what are you worried?
God’s in control. What’s the entire
message of Revelation been about?
What are you worried for? Yeah,
you’re going to go through persecution.
Yeah, you’re going to get come under fire
from Rome.
Yeah, some of you are going to die.
But what are you worried for? God’s in
control.
If he wanted to defeat his enemies,
he could just call the birds of heaven.
And hand them over.
Sometimes we worry too much and about all
the wrong things.
Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of
heaven,
and all these things shall be added unto
you.
That’s still the message of revelation.
Thank you for your attention.
