Good morning. How is everybody doing today? Awesome. I'm doing great. Thank you so much.
We like to open our Sunday morning messages by saying welcome to anybody that is joining us here in our room for the first time, or if you're joining us online for the first time, welcome.
We're so glad you're here to worship with us.
I am Pastor Nathan, and this morning we have finally arrived to the second coming of Jesus Christ.
We are blessed looking forward to this, and it has been a long study through Revelation, slogging through for the last, gosh, it seems like months, through some of the darkest times of Earth's history.
But we have arrived in Revelation 19, the consummation of all of history, the hope realized.
And as we enter into this time and look at the second coming, that's going to lead us to looking at the millennial kingdom of Christ.
And, you know, periodically we might think, you know, what would it be like if we had a world without war, especially what's going on today, right?
Stuff going on in Israel and stuff happening all over the planet. What would a world be like without war?
And we could find ourselves imagining that. What would a world be like that was full of total peace, complete and absolute justice, where righteousness reigns and there's unending joy?
What would it be like to be in a world where food was so plentiful, despite the fact that the Earth is still filled with people, a world that had no greed, no corruption, no wickedness, no evil?
To be in a world where one perfect person, one perfect heart, one perfect mind ruled the entire planet, where one perfect will was done at all times?
What would it be like to be in a world where every politician in charge was a complete trustworthy saint?
We're like, I can't imagine that, right? No. How about a world with no hate, no racism, no terrorism of any kind?
Well, we don't have to imagine it as if it will never happen, because the Bible tells us that this kingdom is coming.
The Bible predicts that this kingdom is coming. It's God's kingdom that is coming upon this Earth, and it will all be inaugurated by the second coming of Jesus Christ.
You know, the first time Jesus came to the Earth, he came to deal with the sin issue. He came to deal with the salvation issue.
But the second time he comes, he comes to deal very firmly with the sovereignty issue of who's in charge, who is God, who rules and reigns.
And he will be in absolute, full, total authority over his creation once again.
This event, this kingdom that is to come, the second coming that inaugurates it all, this first step as Jesus enters back into the world for the second time,
that is what we're going to be looking at this morning starting in Revelation 19, verse 11.
But first, we're going to spend some time praising God, because he is almighty, he is holy, he is just and righteous.
He saved us. He loves us. Hallelujah. Praise be to the Lord. Amen. Let's pray.
God, we're so grateful for who you are, Lord, and we're so excited to be in this section of Revelation, Lord,
after we've come out of studying the tribulation and all that takes place during that time, Lord.
So much darkness, so much difficulty, so much evil, so much wickedness, Lord.
And yet we've come in our study of Revelation to the second coming, your second coming.
And God, this is a time that history has looked forward to from the very beginning.
It is an event, Lord, that has been predicted and prophesied.
Lord, it is a moment that your people have prayed for for generations when we say, Your kingdom come.
And God, we're excited to finally be here in this study, Lord.
God, we just want to praise your holy name because you are due all of it.
And God, we're so excited for what's to come when you return to this earth and you establish your kingdom
and there is just righteousness ruling for a thousand years.
Lord, encourage us as people that live in this world today, God,
who are not yet at this time of this kingdom that has come, Lord, as we're still awaiting the kingdom come.
We're still awaiting for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord, we know that as your people we are full of the Holy Spirit called to go out into this dark world
and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Encourage us, Lord. But Lord, today as we're studying this moment, this event, encourage us at who you are.
Your truth, your justice, your purity, your righteousness, Lord.
We're so excited for this time.
Bless us now. Be blessed, Lord, as your people praise your holy name.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, guys, we are in...my notes are...oh, there we go.
We are in chapter 19 of Revelation tonight, or today.
And, you know, chapter 19 of Revelation begins a whole brand new phase of Revelation.
It's a whole brand new perspective, a whole brand new view, a fresh view, if you will.
You know, as we've been studying through Revelation, we have had 35 total Bible studies so far out of the book of Revelation.
And as I've mentioned, a lot of that has been really kind of dark stuff, looking at Satan,
looking at his means, his ways, his plans, and just a lot of bad stuff.
And I don't know about you, but I've been excited to get to the end of the book
because now we've come to the end of Revelation.
We just have a few chapters left, but it's all good stuff. It's the good stuff.
And Revelation 19, as we looked at in our last message, started with the marriage supper of the Lamb.
As we looked at that celebration where God's people are finally joined with him,
and the whole marriage thing, you know, the engagement we've been in so long with him symbolically
is finally brought together and finalized as that marriage is completed.
And now we've arrived at the moment that I think we've all been waiting for for the last 47 weeks.
That's how long ago we started the study of Revelation.
And people have been asking me, Pastor Nathan, are we going to teach us until Jesus comes back?
And that would be awesome.
And today we're studying the second coming of Jesus.
Okay, we're still here, and so we're going to look at what the Word has to say about this.
But the second coming of Jesus Christ, this event, this is the pinnacle of redemptive history.
This is what it all has pointed to. This is it.
This is when the history of mankind as we know it in this age comes to an end,
and God finally establishes his kingdom, his perfect kingdom.
This is, as I said earlier, when all the prayers of the saints for all time will finally be fully answered, right?
Those prayers when we've cried out, Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And if we look around the world today, I think we would all agree that that prayer hasn't been answered yet in its fullness.
The kingdom of God is not here in its fullness, but it will come.
It is coming. And when it does, when Jesus comes back from heaven to earth,
stopping the war of Armageddon as we've talked about and we're going to look at more next time,
he will then set up his millennial kingdom, his kingdom of perfection and righteousness.
It will be here. It will come. And his will will be done.
That is a glorious time to look forward to.
Now, this event, the second coming and the setting up of the kingdom,
it's been predicted and anticipated by God's people for centuries.
You know, in our last message we looked at here in Revelation 19 where the angel told John that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
And if you're with us for that message, we noted the mathematical odds of Jesus Christ as one individual fulfilling just eight of the 330 specific prophecies about the coming Messiah
and what he would do and be and teach and where he would be born and all of this stuff.
And the odds are just impossible. But Jesus fulfilled not just eight, many more.
And he's going to fulfill all of them. Many of those prophecies of those 330 are prophecies concerning his first coming.
It's interestingly enough, I was making a comment this morning. I'm like, I just find it cool that we're beginning this study of the second coming of Christ as we're entering into the season where we celebrate his first coming.
We've decorated our sanctuary for Christmas and we're all thinking towards that time.
But the second coming of Christ is this huge, huge event, this huge moment that we've been looking forward to.
And although there are many prophecies, many prophecies concerning Jesus's first coming,
there's actually many more prophecies that are concerning his second coming, many that have yet to be fulfilled.
But if Jesus's track record of fulfilling prophecy says anything, they will all be fulfilled.
Next to faith, the concept of faith, right, the concept of believing, next to that concept,
there's no subject discussed more in Scripture than the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The second coming is dealt with 1,845 times in Scripture.
One out of every 25 verses in the entire Bible talk about the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Seven out of every ten chapters in the New Testament talk about the second coming of Jesus Christ.
For every one time that the first coming is mentioned, the second coming is mentioned eight times.
For every one time the idea of atonement is talked about in the Bible, the second coming is talked about twice.
Jesus himself referred to his second coming 21 times, and the church is called to watch for it,
and be ready for it, to prepare for the moment of his coming, to prepare for his inauguration of the day of the Lord,
and all of this, we're told to be ready and prepare for it 50 times.
The prophets all predicted it.
They were all looking forward to the time when God's Messiah would finally arrive and set up his kingdom.
The prophet Nathan once said to David that his offspring from his house, offspring from his line,
the genealogy, if you will, would establish the everlasting kingdom.
And again, that hasn't happened yet because Jesus, who is of the line of David, has not yet returned.
The second coming of Jesus Christ is expressed through Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7.
It says, for a child will be born for us, a verse we talk about a lot during the Christmas season.
A son will be given to us, amen.
But then it says the government will be on his shoulder. This is speaking of the second coming.
And the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. Hallelujah.
Isaiah chapter 11 and Isaiah chapter 42 detail this kingdom and what we can expect to see on earth
when this kingdom of Christ is set up on earth.
Daniel wrote so much about the second coming as we've referenced a lot through our study of Revelation,
the second coming of Christ.
You remember back in the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had.
He had that dream of that statue and the head of gold and the chest of silver, right?
And he said, Daniel, I had this strange dream. Can you interpret it for me?
And we've talked a lot about that as we've seen the interpretation of Revelation
and these kingdoms of the earth that have come and gone throughout history,
culminating in a kingdom that is a confederation of ten nations coming together during the end times.
But if you remember in that dream, Nebuchadnezzar said, yeah, a stone came out of heaven and struck.
The base of that statue destroyed all of it. And then that stone became a great mountain.
And Daniel interpreted that and was telling us that's the second coming of Jesus Christ.
And the mountain that is set up is the kingdom that is to come upon the world.
Jesus anticipated all of this when he stood before Pilate.
And if you remember, he was standing before Pilate and Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews?
And Jesus eventually said, you say so. Essentially saying you're absolutely right.
But then he said, my kingdom is not of this world. Meaning my kingdom is not from here.
It's not of this system. It's something else.
But he did tell Pilate, you're right, I am a king.
And then Jesus told his disciples when he was talking to them about the end times
and the signs of his coming throughout Matthew 24 and 25, a long teaching.
He said in Matthew 24 verse 29, he said, immediately after the distress of those days,
speaking of the tribulation period, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shed its light.
The sun will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky.
Then all the peoples of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.
This is what John is witnessing here in Revelation 19 starting in verse 11.
Jesus is about to descend to the earth. He's going to take over.
But in the very next chapter of Matthew, Jesus went on to say in Matthew 25, 31,
When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him,
then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him
and he will separate them from one another just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on the right, come, you who are blessed by my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Then you have the angel who predicted the second coming in the kingdom to come to his disciples.
You remember when Jesus after his resurrection spent time on the earth.
Then we get to Acts where he ascends into heaven and the disciples,
it says they were just standing there amazed watching him ascend up into the sky.
They just watched him rise up and then an angel appeared in Luke 1 and said,
Why do you stand there looking up into heaven?
This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come in the same way
that you have seen him going to heaven.
It's a promise.
It is a promise of God that Jesus who left visibly and physically from the Mount of Olives
and ascended up into heaven is going to return visibly and physically.
And it tells us in Zachariah the prophecy that he's going to set his feet back down on the Mount of Olives.
It's happening. It's going to happen. We know it's going to happen.
So the second coming, it's not just a theme of the prophets.
It's not just a theme of the New Testament.
It's also a theme of some of the greatest worship songs of the church.
Charles Wesley used the second coming of Jesus Christ as the theme for 5,000 of his 7,000 worship and praise songs that he wrote.
He was busy writing worship songs.
5,000 out of the 7,000 was about the second coming.
Isaac Watts, another famous worship songwriter, wrote about it in his famous song, Joy to the World.
We're about to hear that song some 10 million times over the next few weeks, right?
Now, I am really sorry to disappoint all of you, but contrary to popular belief,
Joy to the World is not about the birth of Jesus Christ.
It is a song written about the second coming of Jesus.
But we celebrate it during Christmastime, and it is a very famous Christmas song,
because you can say that his first coming is also about the second coming, because it's all tied together.
And, of course.
But one of the reasons we look for the second coming of Christ, his return,
one of the reasons we long for the coming of Christ is that it will usher in a brand new world order.
And when I say new world order, I'm not saying it like the way the world says it, right?
The way mankind says it.
It's going to be a kingdom of God, led by God, ran by God, Jesus himself on the throne, as it's said.
And when that day comes, the age of man will be done, the age of Jesus Christ will begin and never end.
It will be the culmination of the hope of God's people throughout all time.
And it's an event so significant that instead of trying to go through verses 11 to 21 in one shot and gloss over it,
I'm going to break this section into two parts, two messages, so that we can really dig into it.
And so, the whole section here, Revelation 19, 11 through 21,
and as a picture of the second coming of Jesus Christ, gives us a description of Jesus at his second coming,
and a description of what he does at his second coming.
So, we're going to look at verses 11 through 16, which is the description of Jesus Christ,
our glorious Lord at his second coming, and the next time we'll look at what he does upon his arrival.
And so, with that being said, read with me Revelation chapter 19, verse 11.
It says, Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse.
Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war.
His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head.
He had a name written that no one knows except himself.
He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.
The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses wearing pure white linen.
A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it.
He will rule them with an iron rod.
He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God the Almighty.
And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
You know, at the end of the tribulation period, it tells us here, as John is seeing this vision,
that heaven will be opened, and Jesus will appear in all of his glory.
That's going to be a momentous event and a momentous time.
It's like everything in the book of Revelation so far.
All of it has been an introduction to and an anticipation of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And you remember when we started this study, we said and we taught,
we saw that this book is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
That word revelation meaning unveiling.
That this entire prophecy, this entire thing that is given to John is about Jesus.
It's to teach us about Jesus.
It's that we would know Jesus more.
That we would be closer to him.
It's not primarily a book about the future.
We do see the future in it, but it's about Jesus.
It teaches us his heart, his character.
It teaches us so much about him.
And this description we're looking at now as we get to the second coming is Jesus in all his glory and power.
It's very similar to how John saw him in chapter one.
There are subtle differences because John is now seeing this in the context of the chronology at the end of tribulation.
But when you compare his first coming to his second coming, there are many, many differences.
You see in his second coming, he's not coming as a lamb.
He's coming as a lion.
He's not coming as the advocate.
He's coming as the arbiter.
He's not coming as the suffering servant, but he comes as the conquering king.
The first time he came, and again we're going to sing about this, he came in very humble circumstances
to a poor family who couldn't even get a room to stay in at the inn.
And he was born into the feeding trough of animals in just very, very humble circumstances.
But the second time he comes, it tells us he comes with the armies of heaven at his side riding on a white horse.
And so let's talk about that white horse.
You know, in ancient middle age times, war horses were one of the most devastating tools of warfare.
Most foot soldiers, especially among Israel in ancient times, were foot soldiers.
They were on foot.
And so it was only the leadership that rode on horses.
And as time went on, you know, people started to realize the advantage of having a horse.
And so cavalry was invented, and then a cavalry charge became one of the most devastating tools of warfare,
of course, until, you know, long spears were invented to stop the cavalry charge.
All this stuff.
You know, it's very interesting when you look at the history of horses,
but the idea of a horse in battle was something that spoke of power, and it spoke of authority.
It spoke of honor, because again, it was the generals that rode these horses.
But it also spoke of speed and mobility.
It was majestic, but a white horse, a white horse is just that picture of victory, that picture of purity.
A white horse speaks of the absence of darkness.
It speaks of the hero of the story, right?
Oftentimes when we see a movie or something and the hero comes riding in on a horse, they're riding in on a white horse.
But it says that this rider coming in on this white horse is called Faithful and True,
and this is really the first name or the first title that Christ has given here in this section.
You know, throughout scripture there's some 700 different titles for Jesus, and four of them we find here in Revelation 19.
Three of them were told specifically what they are, and one of them were not.
So the first title here, though, is he's called Faithful and True.
That word, faithful, tells us about Jesus, tells us who he is, what his character is like.
Faithful, it means characterized by steadfast affection or allegiance to someone.
Did you know Jesus has steadfast affection for you?
That when it speaks of his allegiance, it speaks of this idea that he has made promises that he is going to keep.
He is faithful. He's made promises.
Jesus always keeps his promises, not like some of us.
And most of us in this room that are believers, right, we intend, we have good intentions sometimes,
but often we break our promises for one reason or another.
Sometimes it is out of a complete selfish, malicious reason, and we have to repent of those things.
But Jesus never breaks a promise. He never will break a promise.
And he said to his disciples, if I go, I will come again.
And that is what we're seeing here. He's coming again.
Jesus said that he has promised forgiveness to all who confess their sins.
He promised that. You can count on that.
He is faithful and just to forgive, the Bible tells us.
He promised to avenge his elect, his people.
And we're going to see that in our next study.
He promised to bring wrath and judgment upon the earth.
And we've seen God pouring out his wrath for the seven years of his tribulation time,
and at the second coming he's going to finalize it. It's going to be done.
And then it says he's not just faithful, but he's true.
And that word true, it means being real and not imaginary.
It also carries the idea of being genuine, right?
You know, one of the slanders that the world often makes against Christ
and against Christians is they, oh, you guys just believe in your imaginary friend in the sky.
Have you ever heard that?
Well, you know what? They're not going to be saying that when he comes back.
And so in this day and age we turn the cheek and we go the extra mile.
And we suffer gracefully the way Jesus suffered gracefully in his first coming.
We follow that example. But the time is coming when he will be here bodily
and the whole world will see him, it tells us. Every eye will see.
But not just is he real as a real person. Jesus is real.
He is God. He is in heaven. He is coming back bodily. He will be here on earth.
But then when we talk about what he has said and his promises, those are real too.
Those are real. They're not imaginary. He always tells the truth.
He is always genuine. And in fact, he doesn't just tell the truth.
Scripture tells us he is truth. Jesus himself said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
So who he is, who he stands as, who he is characterized by,
that all stands in a very stark contrast to the counterfeit that has been presented by Satan
as we've seen in Revelation, the Antichrist, right?
Jesus here is called faithful and true. What we've seen for chapters and chapters and chapters of Revelation
is that the Antichrist is unfaithful and false.
We've seen that through this tribulation time that God allowed upon the earth as a judgment upon mankind.
That the devil thought he was finally in control. He finally won. He was finally in charge.
Satan brings this puppet upon the scene called the Antichrist who then is in charge globally
throughout this entire tribulation period. And in this whole tribulation period,
it opens with this leader, this Antichrist who initially comes through as a counterfeit, right?
Also riding a white horse. And we'll talk about the crowns in a moment.
But he comes in and he makes a seven-year covenant that Daniel tells us about
that we read about in the prophecies that he makes a covenant with Israel
that allows Israel to rebuild their temple on the Mount, right?
We've talked about these things. And he says seven years, you guys have this peace treaty,
peace between you and the Muslims and the Arabs. It's peace.
But three and a half years into that covenant, what does he do? He breaks the covenant.
He enters into their temple and says, no, no, no, stop all this worship of God. I am God. Worship me.
Why? Because he is unfaithful.
The Antichrist, as he came onto the world scene, promised stability, promised freedom for people,
endorsed this one world religion that's allowed you to be spiritual,
but express it in any perverse way you wanted to.
But through his deceptions and his manipulations, he would eventually take over the world
and force people to take the mark of the beast, force people to worship him.
And instead of the freedom that he promised, he robs humanity of all freedom
because he is unfaithful and false. He'll promise it all.
But it's all lies to gain absolute dominance over everyone.
Jesus, on the other hand, he's faithful and true.
Everything Jesus promised, all of it will come to pass just as he said it would.
Now, we like to look at that in the context of the good things, right?
Jesus promises good things, and we go, yes, faithful and true.
But as his children, we also have to understand that his promises about discipline
when we disobey are faithful and true.
That he corrects us as a loving father, and that's faithful and true.
And we have to understand that all of his promises are good and righteous, faithful and true.
And then it goes on to say that it's with justice that he judges and makes war.
That phrase, with justice, in other translations might be translated in righteousness, all right?
The idea there is that it's by God's perfect standard he judges and makes war.
And so God's perfect standard is the measuring stick by which justice is poured out.
But it's that measuring stick that means that the justice that is poured out is righteous.
It is right, it is good, it is appropriate.
And so his judgment, the idea here, is judicially accurate.
Nobody's going to be able to say, oh, that wasn't fair, that was harsh, that was critical.
Nobody's going to be able to say that, including the unsaved.
They're going to be like, well, yeah, okay, I was right.
This isn't some weak, apologetic, suffering servant that some want to make Jesus out.
Now, the suffering servant, I think, is one of his most powerful traits.
But people paint that as this, oh, look at how pathetic Jesus is.
But that's not the picture here.
The picture here is this conquering king, a Jesus who is done waiting.
The patience is over.
The long suffering is done.
And remember, it's this very dramatic display of judgment that we've seen towards the end of tribulation here,
and we're going to see it in our next study specifically.
It comes after a very, very long period of grace, a long period of patience, a long period of mercy.
So when it says with justice, he judges and makes war, we have to understand that,
that the judgment he's going to bring upon earth, the destruction we're going to read about,
the death that comes upon those who reject him, it's not some snap judgment.
It's not some rush judgment.
It's not anything done out of anger.
But instead, it's thoroughly just.
And really, because by this point, by the end of tribulation,
Jesus has amply displayed his nature of mercy for generations.
He has displayed his nature of forgiveness and grace to a fallen world over and over again, but they rejected it.
They rejected it, and so it is right and appropriate for judgment to fall upon the guilty.
We get that when we see a criminal get the penalty that is due to them, and we go, yeah, that's just.
That's justice.
We rank against the concepts when there's somebody who is clearly and thoroughly and evidentially guilty,
and they get a light sentence or they get let off, and we're like, wait, justice hasn't been served.
We get that.
And when we see the justice of God poured out upon the world, it's going to be right and appropriate.
So the war he wages is not just right and appropriate, but it's not from ambition.
It's not from a lust for power, right?
That's many of the wars that mankind has raged over the years.
They want power. They want to take over.
They want to take territory. They want to oppress a people.
They want to just hurt a people.
They want to terrorize people.
But when he wages war, it's not from ambition. It's not for a lust of power.
It's perfectly just and righteous in its principle, in its purpose, and in its object.
In verse 12, we move on to a further description of him.
It says, his eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head,
and he had a name written that no one knows except himself.
So those eyes like a fiery flame, this is very similar to the description of Jesus we see in chapter one
at his initial unveiling as he appeared to John.
When Jesus first appeared, John gave us his description.
His hair was white and his eyes were like a fiery flame, right?
He was just overwhelmed seeing Jesus in his exalted glory.
But these eyes, it speaks of the refining and the revealing nature of Jesus.
That's what these eyes of flame speak of.
In fact, when he talked to the church in Thyatira,
which was a very industrial commercial town that was known for its bronze armor
and the furnaces that would make metals and armors there,
the way Jesus introduced him there is the one with the eyes like a flame of fire.
And so that ties the concept to what we understand in the furnace
and the smelting process and the refining of metals and alloys.
Scripture even talks about that, the refining fire, you know,
you would put gold into the stuff and you would heat it up to such a degree
that it would take away the impurities.
And the pure gold or the pure metal would come out.
That's the idea of his eyes of fiery flame.
It's the fact that he sees all.
He sees all secrets. He knows all things.
And so thus, he is perfectly equipped to determine and to execute justice.
Nobody could pull a quick one over him. Nobody could lie to him.
He sees it all and he sees it in our lives.
He sees it in our lives and that's why it's like it's a fruitless endeavor
to try and lie to God because he sees it.
He knows.
And so it's always in our best interest and it's always for the best outcome
to just be honest, just be honest with God, especially when we mess up
because he tells us over and over, he goes, look, just confess
and I'll be faithful and just to forgive you, to cleanse you from all...right?
He tells us, be honest. I'm not going to smack you upside the head.
It's when we don't confess and we don't come to him in honesty
and we don't realize he sees all things and we try and hide it,
then he's like, well, I'm going to let you suffer the consequences of your sin.
And so he has these eyes that see all. There's no improper thought.
There's no unbelieving skepticism. There's no deceit.
There's no hypocrisy that he cannot read.
He scans all as easily as we might swipe on our tablets or flip the pages of a book.
And then it says he has many crowns on his head.
You know, the last time we saw Jesus on earth, he wore a crown of thorns.
And that crown was meant to be a humiliating mockery of his claims.
But here at his second coming, he now wears many crowns, not a crown of thorns, but many crowns.
You see, that word crown in the Greek is the word diadema or diadema.
It's a Greek word that referred to a crown of royalty, a crown of authority,
the crown a king would wear that would declare their absolute authority and their power.
Now, it's interestingly enough back in the introduction of the four horsemen,
and we had that first rider that I believe is the Antichrist, the counterfeit.
It says that he came in on a white horse wearing a crown, right?
But in the Greek, it's a different word.
The word crown, when it introduces the Antichrist, is the word Stefanos,
which refers to a temporary crown, a temporary crown that is more of like the wreath
you would give a victor in the Olympic Games, right?
It's not the permanent stable crown of a ruling authority.
It's a temporary one to say, okay, you're going to have temporary victory.
And that's one of the reasons why when we look at the white horse, I see it as a counterfeit of Jesus.
Oh, he has a crown too. No, not the same. He's not the same.
But Jesus here wears many crowns. And it says many.
Now, I don't know what that picture looks like in your head if they're balanced or whatnot, right?
But he wears many crowns. Again, this is imagery. This is a vision.
This is symbolism that John is seeing here.
And the picture is that Jesus is the ultimate authority above all other authorities.
That he is unlimited in his sovereignty.
Again, first time he came to deal with the sin issue.
Second time he comes, it's to deal with the sovereignty issue.
Who's the king of kings? Who's the ultimate authority?
Well, for generations people say it's not God. It's this other thing I've invented.
It's me. It's my own. Right?
And he's going to come back and he's going to go, no, I am the ruling authority.
I am the creator. I am God.
And so those many crowns that he's wearing, it's really a visible manifestation of what we mean when we say king of kings.
The many crowns upon his head.
And then it says he has a name that no one knows except himself.
This is the second name, the second title that Jesus has given here at his second coming.
Now it says it's a name that no one knows except himself.
If you go back to Revelation chapter 3 verse 12 in the letter to the Philadelphian church,
the reward that Jesus promises to the faithful and those who persevere and overcome in the Philadelphian church,
he says that he's going to write the name of God on them and the name of the new city.
And then he goes, and my new name.
But he doesn't tell us what it is there in Revelation 3 verse 12.
This name that no one knows except himself, it could be that. Some people speculate.
But really the idea is don't speculate.
People go, well, what's the name?
Well, only he knows.
Only he knows. This is much like the, you guys remember Revelation 10, the seven thunders?
It says the seven thunders spoke and John was like, wow, and he started to write it down.
And the angel said, uh-uh, don't write that down.
And we go, well, why even tell us? Why bring it up?
I was talking to my assistant Irene the other day and I asked her,
because I was like, how are you with secrets and stuff?
And she goes, well, I'm fine as long as I don't know it's a secret.
I'm like, OK.
And she goes, come on, you can't say that. I know there's a secret now.
Why would you even bring it up?
And that's the idea here.
It's brought up so that we know it's not for us to know.
And so you go, well, what does that teach us about Jesus then,
if this is a revelation of Jesus Christ?
To me, it teaches us that there's a part of the nature of Jesus Christ
that is simply unfathomable to our minds.
That even in heaven, even in eternity, we're going to be learning about him.
I think that is awesome.
We're going to be learning about him.
There's definitely a part of Jesus that is knowable, right?
That is why we can know him and why we could follow him, right?
He's revealed himself to us.
That was a part of his first coming that God was revealing himself to us.
But there's another part of him that is like the fathomless depths of an ocean.
That Jesus cannot be fully contained within the understanding of his creation.
And I'm okay with that.
Some people get really upset, right?
Why doesn't God tell me everything about his plan?
Because your brain would explode, I think.
Why don't I understand every aspect of the Trinity?
He's God, you're not.
And some people struggle with that and go,
the Bible doesn't say Trinity in it, so therefore there's no such thing as a Trinity.
And I'm like, the Bible doesn't say a lot of things.
It doesn't say TV.
It doesn't say Internet.
So therefore does it have nothing to say about those things?
The idea is that principles are taught.
And I believe that the Trinity is something that when you study the entire Word of God front to back,
you see the Trinity taught.
You see the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit all given personality,
given characteristics of identity, and yet we're also taught that God is one.
And some people go, because, and to me this is the height of arrogance,
because my limited created brain cannot comprehend how God can be three and one at the same time,
therefore it must not be true.
How much do you have to think of yourself to think because your limited brain can't understand it,
it therefore must not be true?
And anytime people go down that road, I just simply go,
can you explain to me the detailed workings of a combustion engine?
Well, no. Is it therefore not true?
Well, no. Sure. You get in one every day and you drive it to work.
And so anyways, I'm chasing a rabbit here.
So the idea is that Jesus is infinite in his nature.
He is infinite in his nature.
And yeah, when we get to heaven, when we get to the Millennial Kingdom and then eternity after that,
like I think we're going to just get to know him more and more and more for eternity.
And I think that's beautiful. I think that is lovely.
You guys that are married, you get a glimpse of that here on this earth, right?
Some of you that have been married for a long, long time,
you know, one of the things I hear commonly is I'm still learning new things about my spouse.
How to love them more, how to love them, you know,
and it just it's a microcosm of this relationship we're going to have with our bridegroom in heaven forever.
So verse 13, he wore a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the Word of God.
That word dipped can also be translated sprinkled or splattered.
So he had a robe that was sprinkled in blood or splattered in blood.
We'll discuss more of this next time when we when we look at what he does at his return.
But there's a couple ideas here, a couple different interpretations people have.
One, they look at that and they say, well, this is a direct reference to the judgment he's going to bring.
And when he ends the Battle of Armageddon, it tells us that he's going to judge the beast and the false prophet,
throw them into the lake of fire.
And then it says specifically that he kills all of those who stood against him.
And so people go, well, it's a reference to that, to that shedding of blood.
Others see this as a reference because, you know, at this point, he hasn't stopped the battle yet.
He's on his way, right.
He appeared on the white horse.
And so they go, this is a reference to his death on the cross, to the death, the blood that he shed for all of us.
It's in memory of a sacrifice.
It could be one or both, in my opinion.
But the point is, is this is what John is seeing, that he has this robe that is dipped in blood or sprinkled with blood.
But then it says his name is called the Word of God.
This is the third name or title that is given to Jesus here at his second coming.
You guys remember how John the Apostle introduced Jesus in his gospel?
John chapter 1 verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And then John 1 verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we observed his glory,
the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Now that's kind of an odd way to introduce somebody, right, as the Word, to introduce us to a person.
It seems very impersonable.
Let me introduce you to my friend, Book.
That's an inanimate object, right.
What's the idea here?
Well, the Jewish people had a name for God that they used called Memrah.
And we have to understand that John's gospel was written to a mixed audience.
He was writing to the church that was growing, that was a mix of both Jew and Gentile.
And so what he is doing by introducing us to Jesus in the beginning was the Word,
is blending a Hebrew concept with a Greek word.
What I mean by that is this, the Jews had this name for God in the Hebrew, and this name was Memrah.
That word Memrah means, in Hebrew, the Word.
Now, the reason they would use this word, the Word, for God is because in the Jewish culture,
the name of God was so holy, it was so holy and so precious that they didn't want to sin against His name
by uttering it with a sinful mouth.
So they would substitute words for God that were things that they felt like they could say with their mouth
because they didn't want to defile the holy name of God.
And so they would substitute the divine name of God among other iterations,
they would substitute it with this Hebrew word Memrah, which meant the Word.
They would use that to refer to God, and it was really a reference to that which is most powerful, right.
God as expressed by His utterances, right.
That's how the Jews would use this word Memrah, which means the Word.
Well, in the Greek culture, they had a term for a very similar concept, and the Greek word was logos.
And in the Greek, the word logos meant the Word, the same thing as Memrah, the Word.
And for Greeks, this concept of logos represented the logical, orderly, predictable patterns and order of creation.
For them, logos, the Word, was the origin and the source of all of creation.
It was the source of all order. It was the source of everything that made sense, right.
So for them, it was logic, right, reason.
That was the explanation for creation.
Like one of the Greek philosophers named Heracles, 500 years before Christ was on the scene, said,
the universe can be explained by the unitary principle of reason, right.
Reason, logic is what created the universe, right.
And their word for this was logos, the Word.
So when John wrote his gospel and he said, here's the logos of God, here is the Word of God,
to a Jewish reader, they would understand that and go, oh, oh, I get it.
John is saying, here's the Memrah.
Here's the Word.
Here's God, right.
And for a Jewish reader, when he goes on in verse 14 saying, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
even though he was writing in Greek, the Jewish reader would go, oh, I get it.
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God.
But for the Greeks who thought reason, logic, and order, the logos, existed in the beginning,
that the logos was God, that reason and logic is what created the universe,
John goes in to say to them, the Word, the logos became flesh and dwelt among us.
We saw Him.
And so to the Greeks, he's going, look, God, the logos, lived among us and it's Jesus.
So he's blending this Hebrew concept and this Greek concept together.
All that to say, it makes sense to me that when John is seeing this vision of the return to Christ,
he would see in this vision the one who is called the Word of God.
The logos, the origin, the memre, all of it.
So verse 14, he goes on to see that these armies follow along with Jesus.
He said, the armies that were in heaven followed Him on white horses wearing pure white linen.
Now, there's some disagreement on who's in this army, right.
One interpretation says this army is the saints, it's the believers,
it's the saved people that are coming back with Jesus at His second coming.
We believe that in a pre-tribulation stance that as a part of the day of the Lord,
which is this entire tribulation thing, it starts with Jesus coming to rapture His church.
We are raptured out of the world.
God then pours out His wrath upon the world and we return with Him at the second coming.
This comes from verses like Colossians 3, 4 that says,
when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory.
Right, so we see that there's this understanding that it could be saints.
Again, it says they're wearing pure white linen and that is a phrase that is often used to represent the saved.
Right, the saved, we saw that with the bride of Christ who was given bright, pure linen to wear.
And that idea is that when we're clothed with the righteousness of Christ through our salvation and our faith with Him,
it's a picture of those that are saved.
And then so we are following with Him on white horses,
meaning that we are coming with Him with the same honor and power and victory as Christ,
because we are co-heirs with Christ, right? That's the picture.
And so that's one interpretation that this army is the saints.
Another interpretation that people have is that this army is angels.
It's an angelic army made up of angels because in Matthew 16, 27,
it said, for the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father,
and then He will reward each one according to what He has done.
So some people go, no, no, no, it's not the saints, it's just the angels.
Well, guess what interpretation C is? It's both, right?
It's the redeemed of the church age, it's the Old Testament believers,
it's the martyrs of the tribulation, and it's the angels.
That's the interpretation that I lean on. It's all of them.
It's the saints and the angels together that make up the army of heaven,
following Him on white horses, wearing pure and white linen.
It doesn't tell us beyond that, okay? So it's not a point to divide and argue over.
But what I do want to note about this army is that you'll notice they carry no weapons.
It doesn't say that they have spears or bows or swords or anything.
They have no weapons. What does that tell us?
That Jesus is the one who brings judgment on humanity.
That Jesus is the one that passes judgment.
And in the next verse, verse 15, we're going to see that He passes judgment with a word, with a word.
Look at verse 15.
A sharp sword came from His mouth so that He might strike the nations with it.
He will rule them with an iron rod, and He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty.
The picture here, that we come back with our King at the second coming, but He's the one that does the fighting.
I think we're just with Him, observing in awe at His power and His majesty.
And that comes from this idea of the sharp sword that comes from His mouth.
That is a euphemism. That is a phrase that describes the power of His word, the power of the word of God, as a sharp sword.
We're told that in different places, that His word is sharper than any two-edged sword, and it divides to the bone and the marrow, right?
We get these ideas that this sword coming from His mouth, it's not an actual sword coming out of His mouth.
He's not one of those magicians that swallows a sword and spits it out.
None of that kind of weirdness, right?
It's a symbolic way to speak of His word.
And so it's with His word, it says that He strikes the nations, and that word strike means to inflict something disastrous.
So He's going to come and inflict something disastrous on the world at His second coming, those that don't believe in Him.
Now, there's five times in Revelation where John emphasizes the words that are coming out of Jesus' mouth as a sharp sword,
or He characterizes them or symbolizes them as a sharp sword. In Revelation 1-16, it says a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth.
Revelation 2-12, write to the angel of the church in Pergamum, thus says the one who has the sharp double-edged sword.
Revelation 2-16, I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Here in Revelation 19-15, and then in Revelation 19-21, it says the rest, speaking of the rest of the world that rebelled against Him,
were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse.
His word is powerful. We should know that.
Right? You go back to the very beginning, when God created everything.
God said, light. There was light.
Can you do that?
Ice cream.
No. Doesn't appear.
He spoke creation into existence.
How glorious, how powerful.
His word is powerful. With it, He created everything. He spoke everything into existence.
So, of course, with His word, He can strike and bring judgment.
Then it says He will rule with an iron rod.
What's really interesting to me is that word rule is the word shepherd.
It's the same word that is used for what elders do in the church.
Shepherd the flock. Very interesting, right?
It's a word that means to tend, to guide, or to take care of.
But it's qualified. He shepherds with an iron rod.
That word iron rod is referring to a strong stick used as an instrument of discipline and or punishment when necessary.
So the idea here is that He's coming with the same care and concern for humanity He's always had.
He's going to be here on earth and He's going to be ruling and reigning.
We're going to be ruling with Him. It's going to be perfect righteousness, perfect justice.
But He's going to be keeping humanity in check.
He's going to be keeping the devil locked up.
He's going to be here tending and caring for humanity.
But it's going to be with a stick that can instantly discipline those who get out of line.
This is the idea where people see, and we're probably going to see this as we get into the Millennial Kingdom,
that during the Millennial Kingdom, it's almost like I read one guy said that instant someone even thinks of sin, judgment happens.
That's the perfect righteousness that's going to exist.
It's not even going to be allowed to flourish. It's the second.
Now, I'm not there yet, so I don't know if I agree with that per se, but we do know that during the Millennial Kingdom,
it's going to be this perfect righteousness across the world.
But He's going to be ruling with an iron rod.
This is what Jesus will be doing during the Millennial Kingdom.
He's not going to be a tyrant. He's not going to be a dictator.
He's going to be a shepherd, a shepherd over the world.
Then it says He'll be trampling the winepress of the fierce anger of God.
And this possibly ties into the blood being splattered on His robe.
We've talked about that with the winepress ideas in ancient times.
They would fill His vat with grapes, and they would get inside it, and they would stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, right,
to get the juice out of the grapes, and that juice would splatter everywhere.
And so this picture of Jesus coming to stomp the winepress of the fierce anger of God is just a picture of the thorough,
crushing destruction and judgment that He's going to bring upon the earth at His return when He puts an end to this final battle that comes against Him.
And so we're going to see more of that when we look at verses 17 through 21 with the defeat of the beast
and the defeat of the false prophet and all the kings of the earth and their armies, it tells us, are all defeated by Jesus.
We read there that the beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire.
And then as we just read that the rest of the people on earth that stand against Christ will be killed with the sword from the mouth of Jesus,
killed at the word of His judgment.
And again, what does this teach us about Jesus?
When it comes to rebellion and rejection and blasphemy, God's anger against those things is fierce.
It's fierce.
And that's at least part of what I think of when I hear that verse that says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
And so, yeah, those of us who are taken up with Him and come back with Him at that second coming,
as He is ending this battle, we're not going to be witnessing the gentle lamb that He is to us.
We're going to be witnessing the fierce lion that He is to those who oppose Him.
So verse 16, it says, And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
This is the fourth name or title that is given to Jesus here at His second coming.
And it says it's written on His robe and His thigh.
And you might go, what's the point?
What does that mean? What does that tell us?
Well, the idea is that the name is very prominent. It's very visible.
If you are riding a horse and as you're sitting on the saddle and you're straddled there,
the thigh is very prominently visible to those that would look up at that rider.
So the name is written right there and it's written on the robe that He is wearing.
So it's visible. It's displayed for all to see.
But this name, King of kings and Lord of lords, this is His victorious name.
This is His name of victory. This is the name of total and complete sovereignty, right?
We already talked about the many crowns on His head.
He's the King of kings.
What that ultimately is telling us is that no matter who's in charge,
be it the Antichrist or whatever kings on earth are allied with Him during tribulation, all of that,
Jesus here at the second coming, He's pushing them aside.
He's casting them down and every person who would exalt themselves above Jesus will and must submit to Him.
Because here at His second coming, it tells us He's not coming back as the suffering servant
to be mocked and beaten and scourged, to be persecuted and chastised by men.
He is not coming to take the punishment that is due to them, to us, for the breaking of God's law.
He is not coming to be brutalized by us.
No, at the second coming, He is coming as the King of kings and the Lord of all lords.
And He's about to bring His everlasting kingdom.
And so in our next message, we're going to see how He lives up to this title,
King of kings and Lord of lords, as He then assumes control of the entire earth.
What an exciting thing to look at this time in this moment when the King of kings and Lord of lords arrives,
His second coming, Jesus arriving in all power and glory, finally dealing with sin and wickedness
and dealing with all the evil of the world and to rule and to reign in righteousness.
How exciting!
But it begs us a question today.
Today, is He your King?
Today, is He your Lord?
Some of us might go, well, you know, He's King over this area of my life or this area of my life,
but not this area of my life.
Then He's not King.
Well, I give Him Lordship over this and this, but not this and not that.
Then He's not Lord.
King of kings, Lord of lords, that's absolute sovereignty.
That's absolute.
Have you experienced His faithfulness and His truth on a personal level in your life?
Are you following Him? Are you walking with Him? Is He your King?
Is He your Lord? You know, that's the most important question any of us will ever answer in our entire life.
It is the most important question. Your future depends on your answer to that question.
Your eternity depends on your answer to that question.
And if your answer to that question this morning honestly would be like, well, no.
Then I tell you this with all love and compassion I can, you stand in the path of God's judgment.
Because if you die without Him as your Lord and Savior, if you die without Him as your King of kings and your Lord of lords,
you will suffer the full judgment and wrath of God for your sin.
But God loved you so much.
That He came to this earth the first time to live a life of perfect righteousness and then to die on the cross for your sin.
To take the penalty due to you.
To be the atonement, the sacrifice that appeased the wrath of God.
That satisfied the justice of God.
So that through faith, all you have to do is believe. Say, God, I believe in that.
I trust in that.
The Bible says you will be saved.
Jesus will return physically down to this earth one day.
It's guaranteed. And every eye will see it.
His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives one day.
And when that day comes, it's not as the Advocate.
It's not as the gentle lamb. It's not as the atoning sacrifice at that point.
Yes, He is those things.
And yes, in that moment, He is those things for those who have trusted in Him.
But at that point of His second coming, for those that have rejected Him,
He's not coming as the one who was struck, who didn't speak, who was chastised for our peace.
But He's coming instead as the conquering King of kings and Lord of lords, faithful and true.
The Word of God speaking judgment on all those who oppose and reject Him.
The lion of the tribe of Judah, fierce and pure and holy righteousness,
the final arbiter of the justice of Almighty God.
And He's coming to put an end to all that stands against Him,
and to establish His holy kingdom that will stand forever.
Hallelujah. Praise be to God. Let's pray.
Father, God, we're so grateful.
God, we're so grateful that You came to this earth.
That Lord, in the mystery of the Godhead and who You are as Father, Son, and Spirit,
the Son came, God who clothed Himself, the Logos, the Word, the Memra,
clothed Himself in frail humanity.
To live, to teach, to be an example of what You intended us to be, what You created us to be.
And then, God, You were brutalized by Your creation. You died on the cross.
You suffered greatly for our wrongdoing.
But Lord, You didn't just die.
You rose again, proving that You are God, one who has power over life and death.
Proving that when we put our trust in You, that You break the power of sin and death in our lives,
the lives of those who follow You.
And God, You told Your disciples that You will come again.
And God, we so look forward to this time when You return.
And God, we know there's all kinds of thoughts and interpretations about the timing of everything, Lord,
but we all agree on one thing, that You are coming again.
That You are going to come back to this earth and establish what we've all been waiting for as Your people for so long,
a kingdom of righteousness, a perfect standard of what is right, what is good,
led and ruled by You who will be just bodily here.
And God, we cannot wait for that.
But Lord, while we wait, You have filled us with Your Holy Spirit and equipped us and empowered us, Lord,
to be people who go out and shine the light in this dark world.
God, You told us that as You were persecuted, we will be persecuted.
You told us, Lord, that as life was difficult for You here in Your first coming,
it's going to be difficult for us here while we're waiting for You, God.
And so we don't expect this perfectly beautiful life without problems, Lord.
What we do expect is as we live, as we go through this day dealing with the good days and the bad days
and the good things and the bad things, that as You promised, You are with us,
that You are guiding us, that You counsel us, and that You empower us to tell people about You,
Lord, because there are so many that don't claim You as their King and don't claim You as their Lord, God.
And without You, they stand in the path of judgment.
Help us, Lord, to be faithful in giving them the gospel
as we live lives full of gratitude because of the gospel.
Lord, we so look forward to Your coming.
And we say, Lord, come quickly, come quickly.
But until then, God, help us to live in the picture of all that You are,
not thinking of You as anything less than You are as You are presented to us here in Revelation, Lord.
Be glorified in all we do. Be glorified in all we say.
Be glorified in all that You will do because You are holy. You are almighty.
We thank You, God. We love You so much. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Let's worship, guys.