THE FINAL BATTLE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I saw Heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose Rider is called Faithful and True. With justice, He judges and wages war.

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God. The armies of Heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of His mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh, He has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the Rider on the horse and His army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

 Revelation 19:11-21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The world needed a Savior.

Every single person had sinned and fallen short of the glory of a God (Romans 3:23), essentially becoming His enemies. No one had a chance to defend themselves again His judgment and all were destined for an eternity of torment and darkness in the depths of Hell.

And so God did something amazing out of His deep grace and mercy. The scriptures tell us that He so loved the world that He decided to offer up His only Son Jesus as an atoning sacrifice so that whosoever would simply just believe in Him wouldn’t perish but instead gain eternal life (John 3:16).

With that, God sent the world His Son who came with all the power of His Father but humbly submitted Himself to the persecution and eventual crucifixion at the hands of those who hated and despised Him. Three days later, He was brought back to life, rising first from the tomb and then fifty days later, to Heaven where He would sit in all authority over Heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18) until the day when He would return to the world, just as He said He would.

In today’s passage, we find John detailing Jesus’ return and as we see, this time He came with a much different mission than the first. Look again at these closing verses of Revelation, chapter 19:

I saw Heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose Rider is called Faithful and True. With justice, He judges and wages war.

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God. The armies of Heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of His mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh, He has this name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the Rider on the horse and His army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Here, we find Jesus coming as a mighty warrior, ready for battle. John shares that He will emerge from Heaven riding “a white horse” to judge and wage war with justice against the beast, false prophet, and “the kings of the earth and their armies”

As John looked upon Jesus, He shares how He wore “many crowns” on “His head” and that “His eyes” were like “blazing fire”. Jesus wore “a robe dipped in blood” and had a “sharp sword” that was “coming out of His mouth”, a sword He would use to “strike down the nations”

We see where Jesus also carries with Him four titles, one of which was only known to Him. As for the other three, they included:

1. Faithful and True.

No one was more faithful and true to the will of His Father than Jesus. Sinless in every area of His life, He was always perfect in everything He did, incapable of being disobedient or deceitful.

2. The Word of God.

Go back to the opening chapter of John’s Gospel and we find Jesus introduced this way:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 14

The scriptures proclaim and affirm that Jesus was indeed the Word of God.

3. King of kings and Lord of lords.

As mentioned prior, God delegated authority over all things in Heaven and on earth to His Son and so when Jesus returns, He will come as the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Every single worldly leader is subordinate to Him.

And so Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to earth to “rule...with an iorn scepter” along with the “armies of Heaven” who followed Him while “riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen” that was “white and clean”, washed by the blood of their Savior Jesus. Bringing the “fury of the wrath of God Almighty”, He goes to war against the evil forces on earth who were gathered against Him and as we see, it was a lopsided battle. For the scriptures tell us that “the beast was captured” along with the “the false prophet” and the “two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur”, never to return again.

As for the “rest” who had gathered to fight alongside the beast, they “were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse”, Jesus, and the “all the birds” who were summoned by “an angel standing in the sun” gorged themselves” on the flesh of the defeated, all the “kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small”. It was what the angel called “the great supper of God”.

So Satan’s evil forces, the beast and the false prophet, along with those who associated with them, were soundly defeated. Good once again triumphed over evil and as we’ll see as we move to chapter 20, the triumphant Jesus will set up His rule on earth for one thousand years.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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