The Return of the King: Revelation 19 - Pastor Ryan Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM

of Revelation, chapter 19. Revelation, chapter 19. Well, our theme for the for our resurrection series is the book of Revelation, chapter 19. And so, we dealt with specifically that first arrival of Jesus and his entry into Jerusalem, his suffering on the cross, and his resurrection. And so, today, what I want to do, and I got to thinking about this about a week or so ago, I thought,

you know, we spend a lot of time talking about the resurrection of Jesus, but probably not nearly enough time talking about the second coming of Jesus, the return of the King, if you will. And so, I thought, what a great time to sort of put an addendum on the resurrection series and talk about the real hope that we have, and that is the return of the King. I was studying with David Hawking on this this week, and he made a very interesting statement. He said, if I understand correctly, one in every ten verses throughout Scripture deals with the second coming of Christ. And so, it's a pretty significant topic

within Scripture. And if that's the case, then there's a sense in which the return of the King is actually the anticipation of all of Scripture. Starting from Genesis 3 until right here in Revelation chapter 19, there's a building anticipation for the return of Jesus. And it's ultimately what we're all waiting for, and ultimately what we're all looking forward to. And so, as we look at Revelation chapter 19,

there's three things we're going to look at out of this chapter this morning. We're going to look at the four hallelujahs. We're going to look at the arrival of the King, and we're going to see that the battle is won. So, starting in chapter 19, verse 1, it says this, Now, we've just jumped into the middle of an incredibly intense book of the Bible, and that's Revelation. And we're jumping in right at the very end.

So, he says, after these things. So, I feel like the most important thing I can do is paint a little bit of context for what he means by after these things. Directly in the context of what he means by after these things. Directly in the context of what he means by after these things. He means chapter 17 and 18, but indirectly, it means after all of the events of the book of

Revelation. So, Revelation starts off with a vision of Jesus. John is on the Isle of Patmos because he's been exiled there. Because as Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts chapter 1, we find that his disciples took his word, and they spread it throughout the entire world. And some accepted it with great joy. Others rejected it. And John was one of the last of the disciples to be alive.

And John was given this vision. And John was given this vision. And John was given this vision. So, the first thing he has is this vision of Jesus. And the second thing that he has given after the vision of Jesus is he has given what we call the seven letters to the seven churches. That not only talk about the seven churches that existed at that time, seven churches that will

exist throughout prophetically all of history, but seven churches that exist in every time frame that we live in. It's a whole interesting study in and of itself. We're not going to go there today. But after the seven letters, we see that John receives this scroll. He sees this scroll, and he's told that there's no one who is worthy to loose the seals and to open the scroll. And he's

just absolutely devastated. He's weeping that no one can open the scroll. And an angel of the Lord says, don't weep, because the Lamb of God is worthy. And so he, to loose the seals and to open the scroll. And so, the scroll is open. And what's open in the scroll is sort of the title deed to earth, but also the proclamation of judgment on planet earth. And so, most of the book of

Revelation is God's judgment being poured out on an unbeliever. And so, he's told that there's no one who can hope in heaven as being filled, not only on this earth, but on every living being, and on every thing that'll be closely watching. So, it's something that can't be put to sleep when, you know, God falls a little alone. And so, but also a world religious system that is unified.

We're introduced to a world system called Babylon the Great, which is an actual city. I believe the city of Babylon. But it's also a world system that dominates the world at that point in time. And that brings us to chapter 17 and 18. Because in chapter 17 and 18, economic Babylon is judged by God and religious Babylon is judged by God. And so all of this judgment comes upon the earth.

And then we come to Revelation chapter 19, which is at the very end of what we often refer to as the tribulational period. And Jesus returns. And so starting off in chapter 19, verse 1, it says, After these things, in other words, after all of these events, I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God because his judgments are true and righteous. For he has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality and he has avenged the blood of his servants.

So the first thing that we see is there's this sound of a great multitude. Now it's interesting. If we were to go back to Revelation chapter 7, we won't. But if we were to go back to Revelation chapter 7, you would find that there's a great multitude who are at the foot of the throne of Jesus. These are the ones who have been martyred during the tribulation.

You see, during that seven-year tribulational period, there's going to be an amazing revival that takes place because what's going to happen is all of your friends who think that you're a wacko nutjob because you follow this book are going to realize, son of a gun, you were right. All of those things that you'd been telling them all these years were right because all the things that you said were going to happen that made you look like a wacko nutjob in their eyes are actually taking place. And they're going to ultimately find so many themselves turning to Jesus. And they will be martyred for their faith during that tribulational period.

And so in Revelation, chapter 7, these saints are at the foot of the throne and they're praising God, a multitude of them. And they're also crying out, Lord, how long until you avenge our blood? Well, this is that same group of saints in heaven, that multitude that's gathered, who are crying out to God and they're praising God and they cry out the word, Hallelujah, because God has brought salvation and he has judged the world system that had persecuted them. The word Hallelujah is a fascinating word.

It's actually borrowed from the Psalms. In the Hebrew, it's pronounced Alleluia. Well, at least the Hebrew translation of, or the English translation of the Hebrew word is pronounced Alleluia. The Greek transliteration of that adds the H, which is Hallelujah, but it has a specific meaning. It simply means praise the Lord. Let's see if you guys can do this first service, kid.

So those of us that grew up in the church, we know that we used to sing this song, right? Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. A lot of y'all grew up in church. I love this. So we grew up singing that, right? Because that's what that word means. It means praise the Lord. And so they're saying, praise the Lord because he's the God of our salvation,

but he's also the God who brought judgment on the economic and political and religious system that persecuted us. Well, now comes the second Hallelujah. The second Hallelujah is the same group of people and they're saying a second time, Hallelujah, because her smoke arises forever and ever. In other words, the judgment is eternal and it's complete. But then comes the third Hallelujah.

I wish you noticed what it says in verse one. Verse four. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, Amen, Hallelujah. You see, while this multitude of saints at the throne room of God are worshiping and praising God and crying out Hallelujah because of the judgment that took place in chapters 17 and 18, there's two other groups that sort of join the chorus.

The first group that joins the chorus is called the 24 elders. Now there's a lot of conjecture about who these 24 elders are. I personally believe that the 24 elders here represent the church of Jesus Christ because throughout Hebrew, throughout the Old Testament, when there was a completed body, there were 24, which represents a completed body. So I believe that this is the church.

See, I believe based on my study of eschatology, which is end times, my study of Revelation and Daniel and different books that there's gonna come a time where there's this thing called a rapture of the church. We're told in the book of 1 Thessalonians that we shall not all sleep, but in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. That word caught up is where we get our English word rapture from. In the Greek, it means to be caught up, but the Latin transliteration of that word is rapturios, which is where we get our English word rapture from.

And the church is caught up and taken to be with the Lord in the air. You see, Revelations chapters one through three are the church age. Those are those letters to the seven churches. But if you get to Revelation chapter four, you find that Revelation chapter four starts off with John saying, I was caught up into heaven. And from that point on, you don't see the church on earth.

You only see John in heaven and all of the things taking place on earth don't involve the church. Not everybody agrees with me on this, and that's fine. You're entitled to be wrong, but this is how I feel about it. And listen, there is an incredible amount of debate on this. And I say that tongue in cheek. And if you disagree with me, that's okay. We can still be friends.

We can still be brothers or sisters, if brothers, sisters. We can still get along, right? Not everybody agrees on this. But all that to say that now you have this group of 24 elders who I believe is the church that joins in with this hallelujah chorus. And then you have these four living creatures, which I believe represents the angelic realm all joining in on this hallelujah chorus, right?

Like the 24 elders are like, hey, if they're going to do this, they're going to do this. They're going to do this. If they're praising God, we may as well join in too. And the four living creatures, that angelic realm is like, well, if they're praising God, we may as well join in too. Because worship, well, it's sort of contagious, isn't it? Like attitudes are contagious.

Have you noticed that? Like if there's a negative attitude, it's really contagious. And everybody else kind of, you know, they stink face too, because they're just like, ah, everybody's got a bad attitude. I'll just join in with them. But when people are caught up in worship and you get somebody that really leads you, then you find that worship becomes contagious

and it starts to fill the entire world. And this is what happens in this situation. So these 24 elders and the four living creatures, I want you to notice both the posture and the action. It says they fell down and they worshiped the God who sits on the throne saying, amen. In other words, so be it. Hallelujah. Did you notice their posture? They fell down before the Lord.

Does that mean we have to worship the Lord with our faces on the ground? Doesn't hurt sometimes. But what it means is it's a posture of humility before the Lord. They humble. They humble themselves before God. And then their action after their humbling themselves before God was complete praise poured out to the Lord. And they said, we agree. Praise the Lord.

Then notice what this fourth hallelujah is. And a voice came from the throne saying, give praise to our God, all you, his bond servants, you who fear him, the small and the great. And then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder saying, hallelujah, for the Lord, our God, the almighty reigns. I don't know how you picture this in your mind, but let me tell you how I picture it.

And I want you to follow this scene, okay? Starts off with a small group of people praising the Lord, right? Picture Handel's Messiah being sung, right? And they're all crying out hallelujah. And then as that worship begins, the 24 elders and the four living creatures, they join in in a swelling sound. And it's almost like they're saying, it's almost like there's this worship leader up there

who goes, everybody now, and everybody joins in. And the sound is so intense as it continues to build to this crescendo that it sounds like a waterfall flowing that is so loud that you can't hear the other people talking around you. It's so loud that all he can describe it as is the peals of thunder. In other words, the loudest thunderstorm he's ever heard because that's the power of God's people coming together to praise God for who he is.

Brothers and sisters, every now and then, we got a little bit loose in this. We got a little bit loose in this congregation. Can I just be honest with us all about that? Listen, I watch it happen a little bit. And I've told you this before, but I do this more during first service and second service, but I sit back there on the back row, and I love it because when I see some of y'all walk in,

like, dude, the week beat you up, right? And you're walking, and you're just like, oh, man. And you come in, and the first song plays, and nobody really sings, right? I don't know this song, and now I'm angry. Second song. But by the time we get to the end, the last song, and Jared has it. Everybody stand up. You know what I noticed? There's a swelling sound.

Like, we're not quite Pentecostal about it, but wouldn't it be fun if we got a little Pentecostal about it? If everybody's hands were up in the air, if everybody was singing at the top of their lungs, if we were really getting with this thing, and we were blowing the roof off the place because it's so loud, and we're like, turn it down. No, don't turn it down. Make it louder.

Because that's what God deserves. And that's what praise is supposed to be. And this is what happens in the throne room of God. It's like everybody hears it, and it begins to swell in sound. Do you guys remember a few years back, and there's been two or three video clips of this that have gone around. I looked it up again on YouTube yesterday. It was one back in 2010 in Portland, Oregon,

believe it or not. And then there was one in 2022 somewhere in Southern California where they set up this, I think they called them like flash mobs or something like that, where you'd sing the Hallelujah Chorus. Handel's Messiah, basically, is what they would sing, which is the Hallelujah Chorus. And one guy, in the middle of the mall, starts playing the piano, playing some kind of instruments.

And a handful of people gather around, and they start to sing. Of course, some of these people are planted there, and they know what they're doing, and they're prepared for it. And pretty soon, a handful of people starts to sing. And then some more people join in, and then some more people join in. And when you watch the video, what you notice is that everybody up

in the upper concourse just has their phones, and they're filming the whole thing, but they can't help it. They join in, too, because the sound is so swelling, and it's so annoying. And it's so intense, and it's so amazing to hear that pretty soon, all you hear throughout the entire mall is the sound of hallelujah. For the Lord God Almighty reigns. That's what it's like.

And so they sing out this four-fold hallelujah to the Lord, and it caps off with this, hallelujah for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Then we come to verse 7, and it says, And let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. It's interesting, because we're told about this marriage feast right before Jesus arrives to take over the world.

We're told of this marriage feast. You have to understand something about Jewish weddings that are very different than the weddings that we have today. They were comprised of three parts. There was the betrothal, and there was the arrival, and then there was the wedding feast, right? The betrothal could take any amount of time possible, right? Like, you could get promised to somebody

when you were an early teenage kid or something along those lines. And I'm here to tell you right now, as a dad with two daughters, I want to go back to that, right? I'm just like, man, if I could just promise them to somebody that I knew wasn't going to be a knucklehead someday, like, that would be awesome. They won't let me do that, and thank God they're not here, otherwise I'd be getting glares from them.

It is what it is. But the betrothal process could take a long time. Then came the moment when the groom would come get the bride. The whole purpose of the betrothal process is that he would prepare a place for the bride to live. He would prepare a home for her to live in. And then, at an unannounced time, he would come and he would get his bride. And then when he came and got the bride,

they would come and there would be a week-long feast that would take place, a week-long party that would take place. We see this kind of throughout Scripture. It's interesting because we, right now, are currently, as the church, in the betrothal period. We're in the betrothal period because we have been given an engagement ring. Ephesians tells us that the engagement ring

that we have been given is the Holy Spirit. He is the earnest, the down payment, the engagement ring that the groom will come again for the bride. Fellas, we've got to live up to a statement here, and that's that, fellas, we're the bride of Christ, okay? Ladies, you're the sons of God, but we're the bride of Christ. It's 2026, whatever. Just deal with it. So the bride has been betrothed to the groom,

which is Jesus, and we're waiting for him to return to take us to his home. Do you remember what Jesus told his disciples right before he was crucified? He said, I go away to prepare a place for you, but if I go away to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that wherever I am there, you may be also. That coming to get the bride is the rapture of the church.

When we are taken home to be with him. The end of this tribulation period sets up the marriage supper of the lamb. And did you see what the bride did to prepare herself? It says the bride made herself ready, and she was clothed in white linen that was bright and white that represented the righteous acts of the saints. In other words, the bride prepares herself for the groom

by putting on the proper attire. And the proper attire, the proper attire that she puts on is the righteous acts that she lives out. And we need to understand something. Our righteous standing comes from our position in Christ. Our righteous standing comes about because Jesus died for us and rose again. And when we put our faith in that, we are given a righteous standing in him.

But now that we have this righteous standing, we should put on the righteous acts of Jesus. We're given a little bit of a statement of this, again, in the book of Ephesians. In the book of Ephesians, we are told that we are to take off the deeds of the old man like an old set of clothing, the things like lust and immorality and evil speaking and anger and malice and covetousness. We're to take those off because those aren't the garments that we're to be known for.

And we are to put on the garments of the new man which has been renewed in Christ, things like love and kindness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control, the fruits of the Spirit, if you will. Those are to be the things that we put on because those are the righteous acts of the saints. Interestingly enough, we are also told in the book of Ephesians that you, as the bride of Christ, are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, listen, which he has prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them. And if I may draw a quick personal application here and a little bit of a challenging question, what are you wearing?

What kind of garments are you wearing all the time? Does the clothes that you wear look a whole lot more like the old man? Does the outer frame of who you are, is it clothed in all of the sins of this world? Even though you have been made righteous in Christ, are you continuing to clothe yourself with the works of the enemy? Or are you putting on the brand new clothes of the Spirit?

Are you putting on all of the things of Jesus Christ, the righteous acts of the saints? And so we see that this marriage supper is prepared. And then it says in verse nine, and then he said to me, right, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are true words of God. I love this because in this moment, it's almost like you can imagine John thinking to himself,

this all seems too good to be true. This all just seems like too much. And the angel looks at him and says, I know what you're thinking. These are the true words of God. It's not too good to be true. Well, John gets so overwhelmed in this moment, so overwhelmed by everything that he sees, by everything that he's heard, by everything he's been told, that he does make a little bit of a mistake in verse 10.

Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, don't do that. I'm a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. John gets overwhelmed and he's got this angel right in front of him and he just hits the deck, right? He's starting to worship him. And this angel goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

This is a bad idea. I am just a servant of God. Don't worship me. You need to worship God. And again, if I may draw another little bit of personal application to our own lives and the culture that we live in today, we very much live in a hero worship culture today where we find people and we think that they're awesome and so we almost start to worship them.

They almost get a God-like following. And listen, sometimes that's even in the ministerial world. Sometimes that's even in the ministerial realm. Sometimes that's even with celebrity pastors. And here's something that we need to understand is we have to worship God. At the end of the day, a servant of God is exactly that. He is a servant of God. And I've shared this with you probably before,

but I'm going to share it again. And this is one of the things I always respected so much about Chuck Smith. So when I first went to Bible college, he would come and speak to us every Friday. It was the very first Friday that he was coming to speak to us. And kind of before he got there, Chuck led a very busy life. So he pretty much came in, spoke to us, and a lot of times would leave.

Sometimes he'd stick around and eat lunch with us, but a lot of times he came in right in time to speak. And so it was right before he got there, and I remember the director of the Bible college got up in front of all of us and he said, now listen, I want you all to understand something. He probably didn't say y'all because he's from California. He probably just said you all.

But anyway, he said, I want you all to understand something. Chuck does not like when people clap for him. It makes him feel embarrassed because he has lived his entire life wanting to point people to Jesus. If you really want to make Chuck happy when he's done speaking, give the one-way symbol. Point to Jesus because that's ultimately what he wants when he speaks.

And I'm here to tell you right now, I don't know if they told every Bible college class that or just us, but I remember we all pointed to heaven. And again, I'll do my best Chuck Smith I can. He went, glorious. Because he loved it. Because he knew that he had pointed us to Jesus. That's what this angel is saying. That's who we are to be as servants of God. It's people that point other people to Jesus.

And then the angel gives this one little statement that's kind of interesting. He says, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In other words, what is the point of all of the prophecy that's given to us throughout Scripture? Which by the way, a good portion of the Bible is prophetic. What is the goal of prophecy?

It's to point people to Jesus. I always get very nervous when I teach about prophetic things. Because there are a lot of different opinions about it. And there is a lot of speculation that comes into play. And I've seen people give a lot of speculation about prophetic things. And the problem with speculating on a lot of prophetic things, especially, well you know, this is probably the mark of the beast.

Or this guy could be the anti-Christ. Then you end up being wrong and everybody kind of goes, wait a second, I trusted this guy and he told me all these things and now I don't trust him anymore. And so I get nervous about talking about prophecy. I'm always reminded of this. The purpose of prophecy is not speculation. It's not even to be able to prove ourselves right

and show how smart we are when it comes to prophecy. The purpose of prophecy is to point to Jesus. Because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I always come back to, if I just point people to Jesus, I've handled it the way that I'm supposed to. So, we have these four-fold hallelujahs that come out in the marriage supper of the Lamb. The second thing that we see

is the arrival of the King. Notice what it says in verse 11. And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood

and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written,

King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The arrival of the King. He says, I saw heaven open and behold a white horse with a rider on it. And his name was Faithful and True. A few things I'd like to point out to you about the rider on the white horse. First of all, it's almost universally accepted in all conservative circles that this is Jesus. I think even the liberals

have to be like, yeah, that's probably Jesus. Coming back on this white horse, two things I want to point out to you. Number one was the first time that we saw Jesus riding in on something, it was on the colt of a donkey, right? We saw that on Palm Sunday. Because when Jesus came riding in the first time, he did not come in as the conquering king, he came in as the suffering servant.

He did not come in as one who was going to conquer, he came as a man of peace. But the second time that he rides into town, he rides in on a white horse because he is coming as a conquering king who is going to bring victory. The second thing I'll point out to you is this, if we were to go all the way back to the beginning of Revelation, you would find a section that's often referred to as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The first one that we see is a rider on a white horse, and we are told he comes in conquering and to conquer.

I believe that that is the antichrist. And we have to understand something about that phrase antichrist. While yes it means against Christ, what really that term antichrist means is instead of Christ. He is a false version, a counterfeit version of Jesus, which is why when this rider on a white horse comes in early in Revelation as the antichrist, he is a counterfeit of the real.

And so when Jesus comes riding in on a white horse conquering, he comes in with a name faithful and true because he is the real deal. He is the actual Jesus that's coming in to conquer. He is the actual Jesus who is coming in to bring victory because his name is faithful or steadfast and true or authentic. That's who he is. And I need to ask a question, do you know the real Jesus?

See there's a lot of Jesus's that are portrayed to us out there today. Some are a Jesus that will never judge anyone. Some are a Jesus that only gave us an example of love. Some are a Jesus who will accept you in all of your sin. But they are not the real Jesus. The real Jesus set a standard of righteousness and said nothing of the law will pass away until all has been fulfilled.

The real Jesus was content to hold people accountable for sin. The real Jesus is able to save from sin, not just give us an example of love. And the real Jesus will come back and judge sin again. That's the real Jesus. Is that the one you know? Because there's a lot of people following false Jesus's out there today. And you need to make sure that you know, am I following

the one that the Bible preaches? Am I following the one that the Bible teaches? And so this rider comes in on a white horse. Again, his name is faithful and true. I want you to notice what it says next. It says, faithfulness, he judges and wages war. Some people really struggle with that word there that he judges. But I thought Jesus said judge not. Yeah. He told us that our job

is not to be the one who is the judge because that's his job. Jesus will judge. I'll never forget, listen, I'm a lyrics person when it comes to songs and I remember when Miley Cyrus, sorry, deal with it. I remember when Miley Cyrus' song Can't Stop Won't Stop came out. Remember? And I heard like a slow acoustic version of it. Again, I really love lyrics. I like to read them and think through them.

And I remember in that song she said, only God can judge us. And I remember thinking, that shouldn't make you feel good. That should not bring comfort to your life. Because you're right. Only God can judge you and he will. And we have to understand that. That if the Jesus you follow is not going to judge sin, you need to understand he's not the real Jesus. And so

this Jesus is coming to judge and to wage war, but he will do it in righteousness. Notice what it says next in verse 12. His eyes are a flame of fire. The idea of fire always presents purity. You see in ancient times when they would melt down the metal, they would get some gold ore, they would melt it down and the impurities would come to the top and they would

scrape those impurities off. Those are called the dross. But fire is what did that. Because fire has this ability to judge. Fire has this ability to purify. And that's exactly what Jesus' eyes do. Not only is he pure in and of himself, but listen, his eyes see with purity. Do you know what that means? And we've got to deal with this. That means that Jesus can see past your bull crap.

He can see past mine. His eyes can penetrate past all of the masks that I put up, and he can see down to the thoughts and the intents of my heart. Praise God that he still loves me, even though his eyes can see down past all of my garbage and see what's really in here. He said his eyes are like a penetrating fire, or like a flame of fire. And on his head are many diadems.

Of course a diadem is the crown, not the victor's crown, but the crown of the king. And did you notice he has many diadems on because it represents the fact that he is the king of kings and he is the lord of lords. And then we're given this one interesting statement about Jesus. It says, and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. Now I find this

fascinating. I don't like when the Bible doesn't answer my questions. Agreed? It's not fun when that happens. And yet, he has this name written on him that no one knows. Listen, I read a lot of commentaries on a lot of passages of scripture. And there's a lot of passages of scripture that you go, scripture never answers that and yet commentators are completely

content to still tell you what they think it means. Except in this one place. I haven't found any commentator that has said, but I think this is what the name is. You know why? I think because everybody realizes this is holy ground. And you don't jack with holy ground. And while on one hand it bothers me to my core that there's something that the Bible doesn't

answer, on the other hand it just makes me stand in awe that there will always be something about Jesus that no matter how knowable he makes himself to me, is still unknowable in my humanity. And that makes me want to worship him even more. Because I go, he still is beyond my finding out. Because there is still a name written which no one knows except himself. And that's what makes him

worthy of being worshipped by us. You see, that makes him a Jesus that we can't control. That makes him a Jesus that we can't make do what we want him to do. Because there's still something about him that we don't know. And isn't that kind of exciting? And so, we're told that he has this name written on him that no one knows, and he is clothed with a robe dipped in

blood. Again, there's some conjecture on this. What is the blood that it is dipped in? Is it dipped in his sacrificial blood from his time on the cross? After all, at the beginning of Revelation, when John is given the vision of Jesus, he says he saw him as a lamb who had been slain. Or is this the blood of the winepress that he has trodden down because no one else could, as we're told

and I believe it's Isaiah 63. Yes. I don't know which one. It's covered in blood. It could be the blood of the ones that he has judged. It could be his own precious blood that he spilled for us. Whatever it is, he has a garment dipped in blood. It says, and his name is called the Word of God. It reminds me of John chapter 1, because the very beginning of John chapter

1 says, in the beginning was the Word. In the Greek idea, that's the greatest expression of an individual. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And remember, this is describing Jesus, who is the very expression of God himself. And so after we're given this description of this rider on the white horse, we, for a brief moment, look at the army that accompanies

him. Notice what it says in verse 14.

So there's an army that's accompanying Jesus, right? So who is this army? Well, the best practice for Scripture is to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. Well, when did we see someone else clothed in white linen? Well, we saw the bride of Christ earlier in this chapter clothed in white linen. Therefore, who is the army that is returning with Jesus that is clothed in white linen? Well, that's

us. That's the bride of Christ. This is another reason why I think that there has to be a rapture of the church, because we're told in 1 Thessalonians that we will be caught up to meet him in the air. Can you imagine us being caught up to meet him in the air for him just to be like, turn around, boys. We're going back. That doesn't make any sense. And so we return

with him. Now, I don't know how you picture this. I picture everything like a Monty Python skit, right? Like, I picture us coming back, and Jesus is riding on the white horse, and he is just regal, right? Like, there's Jesus with lots of crowns up on his melon, and he's faithful, and he's true, and in a minute we're going to find out he's got the sword of the Word of God coming

out of his mouth. He has a sweet tattoo on his thigh that says, King of kings and Lord of lords, and he has a name tag that says, Hi, my name is King of kings and Lord of lords. I sort of addendumed that last part. And he comes riding in regal and like a conqueror, right? And then there's the rest of us, the slow kids on the white horses. This is how I think I'm

going to be on the white horse. Jesus, I'm trying to keep up! Slow down! That's all we got to do, right? Because we're not going to fight in this battle. We do nothing in this battle. Jesus does all of the fighting. We're just the slow kids riding along in the back, just happy, as a lark, to be there. And so we come riding in with Jesus. Now back to the real deal.

And from his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God Almighty. Do you notice how he strikes the nations? Jesus doesn't need nuclear weapons. Jesus doesn't need an arsenal. He simply has the Word that he speaks. I'm reminded, again, of what we talked

about a couple of weeks ago, when Jesus was arrested in the garden. Remember when they came to arrest Jesus in the garden and they show up and they say, are you Jesus of Nazareth? And he simply replies, I am. And this simple word from his mouth caused all of the soldiers to hit the ground. Again, if I'm creating this as a comedy, they stand up and he says, I am again, and they just keep hitting the ground.

He says, boys, I can do this all day. I won't, but I can. But that's the power of the Word of God. The power of the Word of God is that he doesn't need weapons to win a battle. He uses his Word to win the battle, because after all, if he spoke the world into existence, don't you think he could speak a word and judge his enemies? And that reminds me of something, again, a personal application in all of

our lives. The Word of God is powerful. That's what we're told in the book of Hebrews, that the Word of God is powerful. It is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce between bone and marrow, discerning the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Use the power of the Word. That's the power that we have in our life. It's the only weapon

we're given in Ephesians. In the armor of God, the only offensive weapon we're given is the Word of God. And that's the very thing that Jesus will use to judge the nations. From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron as he treads down the winepress of the fierce wrath of God. I want to point something out to you, especially you men

in here today. There are two things that are absolutely true about Jesus. Number one, he's incredibly loving. He's incredibly gentle. He is gracious, and he is kind. But he is also dangerous. And men, we for too long have only tried to be gracious and kind, and we stopped being dangerous. We stopped being dangerous in the way that we defend our families. We stopped being dangerous

in the way that we stand for the Word of God. We stopped being dangerous in the way that we minister to the world that is around us. We stopped being dangerous in the way that we defend those who are being taken advantage of by an evil world around us. And men, we have got to start being those kind of men who on one hand are gentle with the humble and the meek, but are dangerous with those who would stand between anyone else and Jesus.

We have to realize that we're warriors and that we were made for battle, not made to sit back and watch porn, not made to sit back and watch video games, not made to sit back and take advantage of women. We were made to make a stand and to be dangerous for the kingdom of God. And it's time that we reclaim that again. Be gentle and kind when necessary, but when necessary, be dangerous.

Amen? And so that's who Jesus is and that's how he comes back. And of course, on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Man, if that doesn't get you a little bit geeked up, I don't know what you're thinking. I don't know what I'm supposed to do for you at that point in time. Well, now it's time for the battle. It says in verse 17,

and then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, come, assemble for the great supper of God so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and those who sit on them, the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, small. And great. There's this declaration by an angel who stands in the sun and the idea behind this is that he stands brighter than the sun and he cries out to all the birds of the air and he says, it's time for the great supper of God. And the great supper of God for these birds is not something that anyone wants to take part in because it's gonna be all of the dead

that are defeated in this final battle. It's interesting because in this chapter, there are two suppers that are mentioned. There's the marriage supper of the lamb and there's the great supper of God. And the question is, which one do you have reservations for? Which one do you have reservations for? Because you're gonna be at one of them. Depends on the choices you make.

So he cries this out. And so Jesus is writing back, there's a great battle. Notice what it says in verse 19, and I saw the beast and I saw the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. You can imagine the gathering together of this army. Of course, the beast is the antichrist who stands against Jesus

and who stands in place of, at least in his mind, Jesus. And he decides he's going to gather together all of the armies to once and for all defeat this God. It's kind of interesting because if we were to go all the way back to the book of Genesis, you would find that right after the flood that there was a great empire builder named Nimrod. And Nimrod decided that he was going to build a tower into the heavens.

We call it the tower of the heavens. We call it the tower of the heavens. We call it the tower of Babel. And he coated the inside of the tower with pitch because the idea is God will never destroy us with a flood again, but the idea is that he was going to reach up into the heavens because this Old Testament type of the antichrist was going to defeat this God who had judged them with a flood, which is why when God came down the first time to see what was going on with the sons of men, he confused their language because he said nothing is going to be withheld from them.

So he confused their language and separated them. Have you noticed, have you noticed what's happened in our culture today? That there's a great gathering together of the language of the world? I don't know how the new, is it the new Apple Watch that's supposed to be able to translate at least like two or three different languages? It's kind of interesting how

between Google Translate and everything else, there's almost one language again. Have you noticed that? That there's a lot less of a barrier than there used to be? And in the same way that Nimrod decided he was going to defeat God, this antichrist decides he's going to defeat God only to find that he's going to defeat God. Only to find that he's still no match for the Lord

because I want you to notice what happens. It's not really much of a battle. It says in verse 20, and the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

And the rest were killed with the sword who came from the mouth of him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were, were filled with their flesh. It's probably the most anticlimactic battle I've ever read about, right? I think too many of us get like a, like the end of a Marvel movie in our minds when we think of Jesus coming back to fight this battle, right?

Like Jesus is going to come back and he's the superhero. And when he comes back, there's going to be this great enemy that he's going to face. And man, it's going to be a tough battle, right? Like just guys launching each other around, skyscrapers being torn down. And when all hope seems to have been lost, Jesus will gather just that last little bit of strength

and he will finally destroy the bad guy and take out three more buildings in the process. How disappointed we're going to be when Jesus comes back and says, be done. And everybody's done. And the battle's over. And everybody's like, well, that wasn't much to watch. It's like, yeah, because the word of his mouth, right? Like we have to understand something. Satan is not an equal to Jesus.

Jesus created him. There is nothing that is equal to Jesus. He is more powerful than it. He is more powerful than it all. And we can rest in that. There is nothing that's too hard for him. So ultimately, the enemy will be defeated. Jesus won. But remember, Jesus wins. This is it. We know the ending. And the ending is really good for us as believers in Jesus Christ.

So as we wrap this up here this morning, I want to close with two points that I think we should take away from this return. The return of the king. Of course, we wait for it with great anticipation, right? With great anticipation, we look forward to the day when Jesus returns and ultimately sets everything right and rules and reigns in justice and in righteousness the way that he's going to.

And so we are told as we study these things that there's two things that it should do for us. And these are the two things that I want you to take away from this study this morning. Number one, let this hope purify you. Let this hope purify you. Because there's a purifying effect to know that Jesus is coming back. There's a purifying effect to know that mom and dad are coming home

and you better have the chores done, right? And so clothe yourself in the righteous acts of the saints. It should have a purifying effect on us. And as the church, that purity should be what we are known for. Is that purity of life that comes about from the hope that we have of the return of Jesus. But number two, let this hope encourage you. Let this hope encourage you.

The world that we live in will wear us down. The world that we live in will bring great sorrow into our lives. It will bring great difficulty into our lives. And it will give us hardship with every day of the things that we go through. But the way that we keep going through as we say, today may be difficult, but Jesus is returning. Today may be difficult, but the King is returning.

And I can find hope and encouragement in that. I don't know what you're going through today. I don't know what difficulties you're going through today, but may you find the encouragement of knowing that Jesus wins be the thing that gets you through today and every day. Amen? Well, this morning is communion Sunday. And so I see a lineup of children out there,

at least some. So if we could bring the kids on in. No one's moving.

If you could watch the door, for your kids coming in here.

I'm assuming there's other classes on their way.

Here comes one.

Come on in, kids.

Here comes another one.

There's so many faces, it's hard to find them.

All right, so as I said, today is communion Sunday. So we always like to take a little bit of time to make sure that our hearts are right as we begin to partake of communion. And we are reminded that while he is the Jesus, it's coming back to rule. Remember, John also saw him as the lamb that was slain. And that's what we remember and celebrate as we partake of communion together.

And so as always, inside of each of these trays are cups that are stacked together. The bottom cup has the cracker and the top cup has the juice in it. And in and of themselves, they don't mean too much. But what they represent for us as believers in Jesus Christ is actually our very life and the hope that we have. Because what they represent for us is the body and blood of Jesus

that was broken and shed for us. And so we're reminded that on that last night of the feast, Jesus took the bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. And we're reminded of everything that he went through for us. It's what we've really looked at a lot these past two or three weeks. Everything that Jesus went through for us

so that our lives could be made right with him, so that we could once again have fellowship with our savior. And of course, that blood or that cup represents the blood of the new covenant that was shed for us. And it's always fascinating to think that the blood that stains, the white garment, also makes it completely clean and pure again. And so as we partake, we're told to do so in a worthy manner.

And so that means, first of all, to make sure that you are a part of the body of Christ. Again, which Jesus are you following? Today could be the day that you decide you're gonna follow the real Jesus who has given himself for you. But the second thing that we do to make sure that we partake in a worthy manner is to make sure that there's nothing between us and the Lord because this is communion, which means to have in common.

And the thing that we have in common, with the Lord, is that we have in common the fact that he died for us. And so it's a good time to make sure that our heart is clean before the Lord. If there's anything between you and the Lord, now's the time to deal with it so that we can partake of that communion in a worthy manner. So I'm gonna invite the worship team to come on up.

And as they sing this last song, as we do this last song together, I just ask that you would allow the Lord to search your heart, to do the business that needs to be done between you and him. And so when the ushers hand you your elements, if you would stand and we'll partake together.

Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you now. Lord, I thank you so much for the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Lord, we can never begin to fathom the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The depth of the love that you have for us by giving yourself for us. And so Lord, we thank you for your body that was broken for us. Lord, for everything that you endured physically

on behalf of us. Lord, as you bore our own sin in your body on the tree. And Lord, I thank you for your blood that was shed for us. Lord, your blood that was so precious, but Lord, your blood that was able to take away sins. Lord, I thank you that you made us clean by the blood that you shed for us. And so Father, as we partake this morning, I pray that we would always keep in mind, Lord,

that your death is what gives us life. We just thank you and praise you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake.

And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, we thank you. Thank you for another day. Thank you for another opportunity to know you and to learn of you. And so Father, I pray that as we go out from here, we would go out with hope. Lord, knowing that the victory is already secured. Lord, the battle is already won. We just need to follow the, the victor, Lord.

We just need to follow the king who's already won the battle. And so Lord, keep us close to you this week, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.