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The scene in heaven is one of overwhelming joy at the
impending return of Jesus Christ to our world.
Praises are exclaimed by the first fruits, by the 24 elders, by the four
beasts, and by the sentient life across the universe. But where joy is at its pinnacle, it has an
equal contrast in the sin sick world below.
The contrast stands as dark as the light which is its opposite. The finality of what is about to transpire
will set a mark in the history of evil that cannot be undone. Where heaven rejoices, the world below prepares
for a war. Where love seeks to bring
life, renewal, and reconciliation for the redeemed; darkness seeks death,
compulsion, and the conquering of any who dissent. Those who follow Jesus Christ have long awaited
His return to take us to our real home – wherever He is. But for as much anticipation as true Christians
hold within them, those who are not destined to be made free from self-love
loathe the idea of an early end to their dark desires. For them, the time to commit sin, to acquire
more, to indulge themselves is nearly over.
It is as infinite a darkness they continue to descend into, as is the
light we aspire to achieve.
But if there is to be another war, forced by the dark depths
of evil itself, then a warrior will they meet.
It is in triumph our Lord is to return to us. His meek and humble demeanor was ever present
to bring us to Himself. But now, His
enemies will see, that love forever rejected is not powerless, it is not weak,
it is not so easily defeated on the field of battle. John reveals the picture of Christ returning
to our world as we continue in chapter 19 and verse 11 saying … “And I saw
heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” If there are four horsemen who represent the
decay of the church who bore His name, there is now a fifth horsemen who
intends to reclaim it, both His name, and His people. Jesus Christ is called Faithful and True. He is faithful in that our salvation has been
wrought in us, despite our lack of knowledge as to “how” this has
occurred. We cannot understand how our
evil desires have been replaced by good ones, because we did not accomplish
this transformation. HE did! His word is
made True within us, as all of the promises of redemption have resulted in a
transformation of who we are, from slaves to self, to freedom to love others.
John points out, that evil is not to be allowed to run free
and make all the decisions of what will happen next. It is our God who judges. It is the opinions and decisions of our God
that are final. What evil desires and
wishes is to be made of no account. If
there is war to happen, our Lord will not shy away. It is He who will bring war to evil, such as
evil has not considered possible up to now.
Bathed in self-deception, evil has convinced itself, it can win based of
the sheer force of will. It is wrong. John continues to describe the scene in verse
12 saying … “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many
crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.” Evil cannot stand in the presence of love,
for love consumes it entirely. The eyes
of our Lord appear as a flame of fire, for to look into them is to see the
infinite love of God. Evil sees this
love as a consuming fire from which it cannot escape. It is why Moses was only allowed to see the
back of God, not His face. Had the Lord
revealed Himself and His infinite love directly and unfiltered to Moses, it
would have consumed Him for its magnitude.
Moses while still clinging to the sins he cherished could not have
stared into those eyes without revealing the evil he still had within himself,
and thus being consumed by love.
On the head of our Lord is not a single crown to imply an
ordinary kingship, rather there are “many” crowns, to signify He is not just a
King, but a King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
No matter how great any king in this world has risen to prominence, no
matter how high we believe ourselves to have ascended, we are reminded here
there is One who is FAR greater than any of us.
Neither David, nor Solomon, nor Nebuchnezzar, nor Alexander the Great,
nor any since will be able to compare in the slightest to the Lord of Lords, and
King of Kings. In the days of John, a
king was a well understood concept. His
authority was absolute in the region in which he ruled. There were no democracies, there was no place
to appeal beyond the authority of the king.
So the imagery presented to John is something he fully understands and
grasps, it is our Lord who is the real King, and the greatest King to have ever
existed.
John also reminds us that He bears a name which no man knows
except He Himself. We do not really know
the name of the Father God. The closest
name we ascribe to Him is YAHWEH, based on the systemic substitution of the
letters YHWH wherever His true name existed in scripture. This was a precaution taken by Jewish scribes
to insure we never took His real name in vain.
Hard to do that when we do not truly know what it is. But in this scene of His returning, Jesus
bears the name of our God, which we have lost and do not know. His identity, His name, will be revealed to
us at that time, even John is not granted insight for his revelations to show
it to us now. We must wait to see it, to
read it, to have Him tell it to us.
John continues in verse 13 … “And he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.” The Lord’s method for saving us, was to take
upon Himself, the punishment we deserved.
It is by His blood, that our own can be preserved. Thus he returns in a vesture, whether this is
his entire clothing, or perhaps a breastplate, or vest, it is dipped in the
Blood He shed for our redemption. John
again refers to Jesus Christ as the “Word of God”. Keep in mind this is how the gospel of John
begins, that the Word was God. He
continues in verse 14 … “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon
white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” The host of the redeemed first fruits,
perhaps the angels who have supported their Lord before in battle, perhaps
other sentient life who rally to the command of their Lord, all stand arrayed
to witness the triumph of the power of love over evil, even evil which will not
relent. The garments of the redeemed
first fruits are white and clean, this is only possible because the garment of
our Lord is soaked in His own blood. It
is His blood that has made us righteous.
John continues in verse 15 … “And out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them
with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath
of Almighty God. [verse 16] And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name
written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
The words of our Lord cleave those they encounter. For those who submit themselves to Him, we
are cleaved of our sin, and left remade in His righteousness. For those who refuse to submit, they too are
cleaved and smited and overcome, their decision to refuse respected, but their
lives of evil cut short as a result.
There is no disputing His word, there is only accepting it, or accepting
the consequences of sin and death instead.
The rod of iron which He is to rule with, stands as the immutable
principles of loving others, and not loving self. This is a non-negotiable item for our God,
and His government. Satan’s attempts at
balance, at bringing in the ideas of self-love even if only in small quantities
are to be no more, they are defeated.
There will be only one kind of love in the kingdom of our Lord, a love
of others, not self.
John reminds us again of the imagery of treading the
winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Love does not enjoy the pain that selfishness
brings. Love for others hates what love
of self brings. The sympathy and
frustration and patience of trying so hard to see pain and death redeemed now
gives way to an anger with the suffering that love of self has caused. Evil has made its choice. That choice will be respected. And now it will see how much the Lord hates
pain, hates death, hates suffering that evil causes – the anger is to be poured
out without mixture, without dilution, without shelter upon those who have
embraced the course of evil. Those who
have chosen to love self above all else, and refused the redemption and
transformation gifted by our Lord, are to now experience what that choice
means. They are to have their own
suffering revealed to them, returned to them.
What they have wrought upon others in a quest to please self, is about
to come home to themselves, they will now see what it means to suffer
personally, not just to remain in apathy as their victims suffered.
John again makes it clear that the name on His thigh is a
final declaration of His authority in all matters. Our God is King of Kings, and Lord of
Lords. His authority will be
unquestioned, undisputed, and the steeped in a finality that cannot be
undone. What is about to transpire is a
final mark in the history of evil that will never be undone. Evil wanted a battle, so a battle is
coming. Evil deceived itself into
thinking a victory was possible, that self-deception is about to be undone, and
truth revealed. John continues in verse
17 saying … “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather
yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [verse 18] That ye may
eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all
men, both free and bond, both small and great.”
The angel standing in the sun calls to the birds of the air
to gather themselves together as they will be on clean-up-duty for the battle
about to transpire. There is not even a
question about who will be losing this battle and who will be winning it. It is not the humble, selfless, servants of
God who will be consumed by the fowls of the air, it is the proud men of the
earth. Both those who think themselves
as great, and those who know they are not.
It is those who seek to war against what is coming, rather than submit
to a power that could have freed them.
The hold of the beast over those who bear his mark is complete. They are fully self-deceived. They fully believe the false prophet and
imposter of all the known deities is indeed the only god they need serve. Who else could come to disrupt what their god
tells them? Who else could bring
disruption to the order their god demands?
The ideas of the Bible, the culmination of the return of our Lord, does
not so much as enter their heads. This
must be some sort of alien invasion, like in the multitude of science fiction
movies they have seen. How could it be
otherwise, if god is already here?
John continues in verse 19 … “And I saw the beast, and the
kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him
that sat on the horse, and against his army.”
Armageddon has arrived. Despite
the clarity, despite the finality, despite the contrast of an army dressed in
white, led by a God who will surely be undefeatable, the war will go on. They see Him coming as He promised, yet vow
to fight on. They know in the deep
recesses of their minds, that He who is returning is the Truth, the Way, and
the Life. They know it is Jesus Christ
who descends now with His angelic throng, yet despite the certainty of truth,
there is nothing left to do, but to war on.
Even now, the stubbornness of evil is revealed. Even now, there is no change of heart or
mind, there is only a deepening in the course of sin they have embraced. Instead of surrendering and pleading for
mercy though the time for this has past, they will even now, refuse the mercy
or love they might have otherwise already gained access to. The decisions are final. The contrasts of finality have been set,
there is no going back, there is no vacillation, there is only to move forward
into war.
John continues in verse 20 … “And the beast was taken, and
with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he
deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped
his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with
brimstone.” There is a special fate
reserved for those who have led this deception, and who have sought to lead the
genocide of the followers of Jesus Christ alone. The beast, the dragon, the second beast, and
the third – Satan and all those who have led the quest to compel the conscience
of others, the leaders of these ideas, from papal supremists, to Islamic
facists, to atheistic proponents, to fundamentalist protestant militants – the
leadership of this war against Christ are to be cast alive into a lake of
fire. This will consume the earthly
participants, and push the supernatural ones into a state of punishment. The leadership is dealt with in a special way
at the outset of the battle evil has chosen to pursue.
John then continues in verse 21 saying … “And the remnant
were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded
out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” Those who remain of the evil in this world;
the followers, the passive aggressives, the apathetic, the self-denialists,
those who would still attempt to rationalize their way out of this dilemma -
are to be slain by the word of God. A
simple command from the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, ends the lives of
those who would have sought to end His once again. The battle does not last, it does not involve
casualties on both sides, but only on one.
It is not a battle that can be ended by retreat, to live to fight
another day. It is over. It is ended, with the leadership consumed in
a lake of fire, and the rabble evil hoard fallen by the words of Christ. It is quick and decisive with zero
survivors. The saved have already been
caught up in the clouds to greet Him in the air. His foot has never even had to touch the
ground to fight this war or to win it.
It was won while he yet approached.
The dead in Christ have already been awakened by the sound of the
trumpet, they have already been called from their graves to meet Him in the
air. The scene John describes is about
the contrast of the saved with those who are not.
The finality of this battle cannot be understated. The contrast is stark and eternal. Fates have been forever sealed when once the
decision to compel the conscience of men was embraced. Now the results of that decision are to be
seen. It is death that was chosen. Like the Pharaoh of old who sought to kill
the Israelites, and instead found his firstborn slain; so the wicked who sought
to kill those who dissented from their majority view point now find it is them
who are to be slain. The choice to
pursue blood, has been respected, but the result was to find it is their own
blood that is spilled. The outcome was
not expected, but it was chosen. If evil
had its way, the righteous of the earth, the humble, gentle, followers of Jesus
Christ who are guilty of nothing but loving others, would be completely dead
and gone from the earth. This was the
plan of the enemy. He sought to kill
every living thing that follows Christ, and kill the God of our universe, once
again. His plan was foiled. His choice altered by an outcome he did not
wish. There are slain to feed the birds
as the angel predicted only moments ago.
But as predicted, the slain are those steeped in the evil of self-love.
The most longed for event in human history, is also the most
destructive and hated event in human history.
The contrast of life and death has never been so apparent as now. Those who love others experience an infinite
joy, that overwhelms them entirely.
Those who love self, experience pain and an early demise, to be cut
short of all their evil intentions, goals, and desires. Those who love self, HATE what has come. They hate His return. They hate His followers. They hate that gentle demeanor, that speaks
and acts of nothing but love for others.
The contrasts of finality have long been set. How this event in the history of our world is
perceived is defined by the construct of the character you retain when it
occurs. Will you stand with the redeemed
of Jesus Christ, who have allowed His transforming love to free you from your
slavery to serving self? Or will you
take your place with the demonic hoard who look for no greater glory than to
indulge self just one more time before it ends?
This battle is over before it begins. It was always going to be so. This revelation however has a much deeper
significance. Because this revelation is
given to you today, BEFORE, these things occur, BEFORE your decisions are
final. You have the luxury of time in
the here and now, to determine which side of this conflict you intend to be
identified with. These truths are sure
and certain, but they also remain in the future as of today. Our nation has not yet implemented the
universal call to take on the mark of the third beast. Our churches have not yet abandoned Christ
and called for the killing of any who will dissent with the majority view. We are on the road to these things, but they
remain as yet, incomplete. There is
still time. Time is the gift you are
given today. You can read this
revelation in a time that is not yet advanced as far as the scriptures surely
foretell.
That is the point of these revelations. They are NOT a history book, offering no hope
for the reader. They are a prediction of
what is to come. In the day of John,
nearly everything was set in a current or future tense. In our own day, six of the series of seven
things, have come to pass. The seventh
is still ahead of us. While we do not
look as did John, with a wealth of future time to see ourselves embrace the
salvation of Jesus Christ; it is still not too late yet. But the highway we travel towards these
events will not be deterred or delayed much longer. These revelations, like the remainder of the
gospel, stand as a love letter from your true God. They remain an invitation to start the
process of transformation to perfection in the here and now. They offer a surety that your salvation will
be witnessed by you through the power of Jesus Christ alone. This is NOT about fear tactics. Only the wicked have reason to be
afraid. Those who would be free, have
reason to rejoice, because freedom stands ready to be embraced.
The contrast of how you view these events, and these sure
predictions, is an indication of where you stand with Christ today. If what is written, strikes fear in your
heart, then pray to submit yourself to Christ, and let His peace, replace your
fear. If what is written appears to you
as a message of hope and love, then pray a prayer of thanksgiving that your
salvation has already begun; pray that your submission can be full and complete
and immediate, so that your joy can only grow in the here and now. This battle, though still in the future, and
marked by a contrast that cannot be undone, was not to be the final
battle. There was to be one more. There was to be an epitaph of death itself still
to be witnessed …
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