Revelation depicts the heavenly warrior King Jesus descending from heaven with a mighty army to rescue his bride, vanquishing Antichrist and all forces of evil forever.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 26 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast, entitled The Second Coming of Christ, where we’ll discuss Revelation 19:11-21. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, this is the climax of human history, the end of human history in this present evil age, the second coming of Christ. And so, we’re going to look at Revelation’s depiction of a warrior from heaven, King Jesus coming to defend or protect his bride still on earth being persecuted and coming back to destroy the Antichrist and his forces that have assembled to kill the people of God. And with that second coming of Christ, which is predicted in so many places in the New Testament, we have the consummation of this present evil age and then turning to a whole new world order. So, we’ll walk through that today.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 11-21 in Revelation 19.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
Andy, what is the significance of the vision of a white horse with a rider on it and the names that the rider is given here?
Andy
One of the challenges of the Book of Revelation is to try to understand when its words should be taken literally and when its words should be taken figuratively. And so, we have a vision here of Christ in second coming glory. And we’re told later he has a sword coming out of his mouth. And I don’t know any evangelical interpreter that believes that’s going to be literally so. So, the same is true of the horse, is it literal or not? Generally, the second coming of Christ, Jesus simply says he’ll come with the clouds. And so, in the same way that he ascended from earth and the cloud hid him from their sight, he will come back with the clouds of heaven and doesn’t need any horse to ride. So, I don’t mind if some evangelicals will take it literally, but I think instead what we see here is Jesus as warrior. He’s coming as warrior.
And this goes to an image that we talked about a long time ago in this series of Jesus as both lion and lamb. How in the Book of Revelation chapter 5, we have the whole scroll in the right hand of the one seated there, and Jesus comes, and he’s depicted as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. “And then I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon based on this lion-lamb dichotomy and just saying how different those two animals are. So, a lion is ferocious, terrifying. A lamb is meek and lowly and humble. So, throughout the book we’ve had lamb even right up to the beginning of this chapter where it says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). So Jesus is depicted again and again as a lamb, but here he’s behaving as a lion and he’s coming to destroy his enemies, I mean to rip them limb from limb, to shred them and kill them. And so, there is a very powerful picture of Jesus as a warrior king here coming to do damage on planet earth.
Wes
And why is Jesus’s faithfulness so important when it comes to the doctrine of the second coming, and how does it relate to the many promises he’s made to return to earth in power and great glory?
Andy
Right. Well, within your question is the answer. The reason it mentions faithfulness is he’s made all these promises. And he made the promises to come back. He said it again and again. “And if I go, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am.” And that’s in John 14:3, and many, many other places. He clearly says he’s going to return. The angels said he was going to return. “The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you’ve seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). As parables imply, an absentee owner or king who then comes back and calls them to account. And so, he has promised again and again to come back. This is him keeping that promise. Frankly, the promise is right in the text we’re studying because he still hasn’t come back today. And so, this is still a promise, isn’t it? And so, he is faithful to keep his promises, and the central promise here is to come back.
Wes
Why is it vital to understand the statement, “With justice he judges and makes war?” And how is that different from the way earthly conquerors make war?
Andy
there have been lots of kangaroo courts and lots of injustice across history, great injustices. But Jesus judges with perfect justice
Well, this in my mind takes me back immediately to Isaiah 11 where it says the same thing, that Jesus is the judge who judges justly. With justice he renders decisions for the poor of the earth. And in Isaiah 11 he’s saying he renders them on behalf of the poor of the earth. He doesn’t show favoritism to financially poor people. It’s not that. But instead, he is a true and righteous judge. And the contrast is that judges have a sin nature, and most of them, as unregenerate men, have judged as what would benefit them or the regime that they were trying to uphold. So, there have been lots of kangaroo courts and lots of injustice across history, great injustices. But Jesus judges with perfect justice. And he is, in John 5, “The one entrusted with all judgment,” as Jesus said. And he has, “entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father.” That’s John 5:23. And so, Jesus judges with justice.
Wes
Now I want to look at the details of verse 12 and try to help our listeners understand the significance of what’s laid out here. The rider’s eyes being like blazing fire, the many crowns that are on his head, and this name that’s written on him that no one knows but himself. What is going on here in verse 12?
Andy
Yeah, that’s an incredibly rich verse, and it shows the symbolism here. It’s just overpowering. First, “eyes like blazing fire,” we’ve seen in the original vision of Jesus back in Revelation 1. And I think what it means is he has pure eyes. Like Habakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong.” Jesus sees with holy eyes; he sees everything righteously and clearly. And it’s also terrifying if you are an enemy of God. And you’re wicked, and he looks at you with eyes like blazing fire, you know that you’re in trouble. It’s a terrifying thing. And then it says, “on his head are many crowns.” And of course there’s that famous hymn, “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” And the idea is that there are different realms and aspects of Jesus’s kingly reign. He rules over all things. And it will say later in this vision, “He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.” And so, every crown belongs to him ultimately. So, any way you can honor Jesus, he deserves it.
So, with many crowns on his head, it means there are many reasons to honor him and esteem him and also to obey him as king. And then it says he, “has a name written on him that no one knows, but he himself.” And I think what that means is there are aspects of Jesus that he has hidden and concealed to himself. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2:11, “No one knows a man except the spirit of the man within him. And in the same way, no one knows God except God’s Spirit that searches the deep things within him.” And so, I think the idea here is that there are aspects of Jesus’s personality, of his will, of his mindset that you do not understand, and the name represents those things. He has aspects to himself that only he fully understands. Jesus says this very plainly in the Gospels. He says, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). So, we understand the second half, it’s like no one really knows God, but Jesus came to reveal God to us. But the first half, we don’t tend to think about. “No one knows the Son except the Father.” In other words, only God really knows who the Son is.
Wes
What’s the significance of the fact that his robe is dipped in blood, and how does, “his name is The Word of God,” help identify or describe the rider?
Andy
All right, so I have to think that this robe dipped in blood is carnage rather than the atoning blood shed on the cross. And the image I get out of this is in Isaiah 63 where the warrior comes and he’s treading the winepress, which is mentioned later here, and the blood is spattering his robe. So that’s an image from Isaiah 63 of a warrior stomping through a battlefield and crushing his enemies. And so, his robe is dipped in blood, implying the carnage that he’s going to wreak on his enemies. I don’t mind if an interpreter would see the robe dipped in blood is related to the blood he shed on the cross, but it doesn’t really fit here. He’s coming back as a warrior to kill his enemies. And “his name is The Word of God,” of course takes us to one of the most famous passages in the New Testament, and that’s John 1:1. “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” And Jesus was called the Word of God.
And I think the reason for that is the incredible power of the Word of God. It is by the breath of his mouth that the heavens were formed and all of the stars. God created all things by the word of his power, and Jesus is that word of power. It is by Jesus that God has created all things. Jesus, therefore, is the word of God’s power by which he speaks power to the earth. Now here the Word of God is coming to the earth to bring judgment, the very thing that he threatened. He is faithful to his promises, but he’s also faithful to keep his warnings and his threats. And so, he’s coming to bring judgment. I also think it relates, as we’ve said earlier in this podcast today, to the sword coming out of his mouth. And also 2 Thessalonians 2:8, it says that he’s going to, “destroy the Antichrist with the breath of his mouth.” And so, all he has to do is speak and say, “Be dead,” and you’re dead. There’s nothing you can do because, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And so Jesus is the Word of God.
Wes
Now who’s riding with Jesus and how are they described?
Andy
Yeah. With him are the armies of heaven. Remember when Jesus was being arrested and Peter drew his sword to fight for him, he said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father and he would at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?” Well, a legion is 6,000. 12 legions would be 72,000 angels. Well, there’s a lot more than that in heaven, there’s a hundred million. There are myriads of myriads. And so, I don’t know if heaven is emptied, and all of the angels are coming. It is the greatest overkill there could ever be.
First of all, they’re completely unnecessary. They’re not there to fight. They are the armies of heaven. And Lord Sabaoth, Lord Almighty means the commander of the armies of heaven, and they could fight. But it seems that the fighting is left to Jesus here. He is the one that’s doing the killing. Now he might do it through the angels, but at very least they’re just there to witness the awesome power of the wrath of Jesus as he fights his enemies. So, they’re there, the armies of heaven, and I think they could involve both angels and humans. So, we’re talking about the redeemed. And as they come with him, they’re coming to fight and to fight this final battle that’s described in this chapter.
I also want to say something about the linen that they’re wearing, fine and clean. And I think if this represents the saints coming, the armies of heaven, then it implies directly the imputed righteousness of Christ. And the fact that their shameful nakedness has been covered in Christ’s perfect righteousness.
Wes
Now, we’ve talked about the sword coming out of his mouth, but how should we interpret the sword coming out of his mouth and what does it teach us about Christ’s power?
Andy
So, concerning the sword that comes out of the mouth of Jesus, “Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword.” The word sharp of course brings me in Hebrews 4:12 to the word of God. The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It’s able to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It severs. That’s what swords do. It slices apart. And so out of Jesus’ mouth comes this sharp sword. So, it’s a perfect sword, a sharp sword, a fierce sword. It says of Leviathan, in Isaiah 27, that God will destroy the coiling serpent of the deep with his fierce great and powerful sword. Again, that’s the word of God. I think it’s word of God weaponized. When God says, “Be dead,” you’re dead. When God says, “Go to hell,” you go to hell. He can do anything.
And so out of his mouth comes a very effective weapon and there is none more powerful ever than the word of God spoken by Jesus. So out of his mouth comes this sharp sword and it’s there clearly to kill. “With which to strike down the nations.” And then we have this quote, very well-known from Psalm 2:9, “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” And so that is the sovereign power. Psalm 2 there is referring to the folly of fighting against God and against his anointed one. And the warning in Psalm 2 is to not oppose him because if he strikes you down with his iron scepter, you’ll be crushed forever.
Wes
So, we have this quote from Psalm 2. We also get the language that you spoke of as alluded to or quoted from Isaiah 63 here at the end of verse 15. “He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” What do we learn from that coupling of that quote from Psalm 2 and then the language of treading the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God at the end of verse 15?
Andy
It’s absolutely overpowering. And I would commend our listeners to read Isaiah 63:3. He says, “I’ve trodden the winepress alone from the nations, no one was with me.” This is Jesus fighting the battle of God awesomely. Here, I’ll read part of it. “Who is this, coming from Edom, from Bozrah with his garments stained crimson?” So, there’s that robe spattered in blood.
Who is this robed in splendor, striding forth in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why are your garments red like those of one treading the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, from the nations no one was with me; I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; and their blood spattered my garments and I stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart and the year of my redemption has come (Isaiah 62:1-4).
And so, this is judgment day, it’s a terrifying image of judgment day.
And I want to say something about this incredible statement about the treading of the winepress. The King James version of this says, “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” Jonathan Edwards, in the most famous sermon that has ever been preached in American church history, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” zeroes in on the specific statement. “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” This is what Jonathan Edwards said.
The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, “the wrath of God,” the words would’ve implied that which is infinitely dreadful. But it is not only said so, but the fierceness and wrath of God, the fury of God, the fierceness of Jehovah. Oh, how dreadful must that be? Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them? But it has not only said so, but the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God as though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict as though omnipotence should be, as it were, enraged and excited as men to tend to exert their strength and the fierceness of their wrath. Oh, then what will the consequence be? What will become of the poor worm that shall suffer it? Whose hands can be strong? Whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God?
So, it’s terrifying.
Wes
What’s the significance of the name that follows on the heels of this that’s so familiar to us in verse 16, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” and what should we make of the fact that this name is written on his robe and on his thigh?
Andy
Jesus is the King of all kings. He’s the king of those wicked kings. He’s the king of antichrists. He’s king of every king there’s ever been. And so, this is absolute, complete, total sovereignty.
It means that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus. There are created beings that have authority, and they’re held accountable for what they do with their authority. And we’ve seen in Revelation 17 how the kings of the earth band together to give their power to the beast, to the antichrist. So, he is a moderated king of kings, lowercase k, lowercase k. He rules over the earth, the whole earth. That one world government. Jesus is the King of all kings. He’s the king of those wicked kings. He’s the king of antichrists. He’s king of every king there’s ever been. And so, this is absolute, complete, total sovereignty. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Also, in the future, those who are redeemed will sit on thrones with authority, ruling over 10 cities or five cities or lesser parts of his domain, and they will be moderated, redeemed, glorified kings. But Jesus is still the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Also, the Book of Daniel, Daniel 7 says that his saints will reign under him. And so, we’ll have authority. So, looking back, he’s the King of wicked kings and he’s the Lord of wicked lords and will judge them for what they did with their authority. Looking ahead, he’s the King of redeemed and glorified kings and redeemed and glorified lords who will rule under him in the new heaven and the new earth.
Wes
What happens next in John’s vision in verses 17 and 18? And what is this great supper of God?
Andy
Well, the Great Supper, this is Armageddon, if you put it all together. We’ve already had in Revelation 16 the gathering together of armies in one place called Armageddon. This is just depicting that again. And as they gather together, they’re coming to die. They are humans. They have human bodies. Their bodies are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. They have bones and muscle and sinew and arteries and capillaries and nerves and all that. And they’re there with weapons and they’re there to fight. Now I believe if you look at the big picture, what’s happened is, by this point all Israel has been saved. The temple has been taken over by Antichrist. The Jews have turned away from their old covenant animal sacrifice, at last, finally, to recognize in Jesus the final sacrifice and the end of all animal sacrifices in Jesus, their perfect priest and prophet and king. The Son of David, at last. They will look on him, the one they pierced, and they’ll believe in him and trust in him. And so, they will be saved as it says in Romans 11:26, “All Israel will be saved.”
But now they’re the enemies of the Antichrist. And not just Jews, but there will be Christians as well and they will be hiding and fleeing and trying to survive those days that Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive” (Matthew 24:22). And so, at this point, the Antichrist and all of its forces are seeking a genocide. They’re pursuing, especially those who live near Jerusalem or Judea, that area, they’re pursuing them to kill them. And this is motivating Jesus to come down from heaven. Also, we get the same thing in Revelation 12 where the dragon pursues the children of the women. And we walked through all that and you can read it. But he goes after them to kill them and that motivates Christ to come and rescue them and save them. And so, it’s a battle and it’s going to be incredibly one-sided, but not the way the Antichrist thought. The Antichrist has all power. The 10 kings that gave him their power have all power. They have all this military strength. The Euphrates River is open, and a hundred million soldiers are coming. It’s just overwhelming. And you’ve got this small band of believers that are fleeing for their lives and hiding in caves and all that. They are greatly over-matched.
But the Antichrist doesn’t understand the real imbalance of power is between him and Christ. So, Christ comes with omnipotence and with the armies of heaven to defeat the armies of the earth. And so, the call for carrion birds to come… And Jesus also said in Matthew 24:28, “Wherever there is a carcass, there, the vultures will gather.” There’s mass death. It’s just absolute carnage. It’s a bloodbath. The sword that comes out of Jesus’s mouth, it’s not a quick, painless death. He’s hacking them in this way. And I don’t think there’s a literal sword, but there is literal carnage. And so, their bodies are exploding. And so, the carrion birds come, and they’re gorged. The verse actually says, “Come and be gorged.” Do you have a translation?
Wes
Yeah. In verse 21, “All the birds were gorged with their flesh.”
Andy
Yeah, so they ate their full, and there was more still. So, there’s too much carcass and not enough carrion birds. It’s terrifying. So, this is carnage. This is actual literal destruction at the end of the earth.
Wes
What does verse 19 describe and what do we learn from this verse?
Andy
Yeah, I want to say something about 19. I want to say verse 18 also. It says, “so you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, freeing slaves, small and great.” So, this is a universal judgment on the enemies of Jesus, just carnage everywhere. And so, all types and categories. Now it is debatable whether every single enemy of Jesus is destroyed. We will in the next podcast talk about the millennium. And some say there are still some enemies that could be redeemed or won over. The complexity here is off the chart, but at least in verse 18, we know all categories are coming to be the focus of the wrath.
And then, “The beast,” it says in 19, “and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.” So, they’re there, and they don’t know that they’re there to fight Jesus. I mean, who would ever do that? Here’s Jesus coming with an angelic and redeemed army from heaven down to earth. Who’s going to fight that? But that’s what they are doing by fighting against God’s people. Think about what Jesus said to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). So, “You come after my bride, I’m going to beat you up. I’m going to destroy you. I’m not going to allow you to destroy my people. I will protect them.” And so, he comes, they’re gathered. The beast is the Antichrist. The kings of the earth that together gave him their power, come together. All the armies come together. They’re all in one place to be slaughtered. They don’t know they are there to be slaughtered, but that’s what they are there to do.
Wes
Now, what was the outcome of the battle and what happened to the beast and the false prophet?
Andy
Well, predictably, Jesus wins. As we already said earlier, they’ll make war against him, but he will be victorious because he is King of kings and Lord of lords. It says that plainly earlier, I think in Revelation 17. And here again, it’s predictable. The beast loses and the beast is captured. And with him, the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. So, he’s captured too. And with these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. And then the two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Now we’re going to talk much about that at the end of Revelation 20, but that’s hell. So, they’re cast into hell. And so, it’s the end of their reign. It’s the end of their time, and they have lost. It definitely reminds me of Isaiah 14 where the king of Babylon, so to speak, Lucifer, but also the literal king of Babylon is marveled at as having been cast down into the nether regions into judgment. “You who were once great and made the nations tremble, now you’ve been cast down” (Isaiah 14:12). And so that’s true of Satan ultimately, and we’ll get to that. But the beast and the Antichrist are thrown into the lake of fire.
Wes
So that’s the outcome for the beast and the false prophet. What happened to the rest of the wicked army that had been gathered to fight against Christ? And what’s the significance, as we’ve already discussed, of the birds gorging themselves on the flesh of the wicked at the end of this vision?
Andy
Right. So, the entire army that’s there in service to the beast and the kings, they all get killed. It’s just absolute carnage, with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse. So again, that’s why I say that the armies from heaven don’t really have a job to do. And that’s because of this verse 21. Who does all the killing? Jesus. It’s effortless for him. He’s not sweating, he’s not getting tired as he swings his sword. It’s just done, it’s judgment. And he as effortlessly created the universe in six days by the word of his power, can bring about death for his enemies as well.
I’ll tell you, this should expand and deepen our understanding of who Jesus is. He is Lamb, he is the Lamb of God. He’s gentle. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light for us. But he’s a lion too. He’s a terrifying, righteous king who will destroy his enemies. He’ll kill them eternally in hell. And so, in the Parable of the Minas, there was a delegation of his subjects who hated him and did not want him to be king over them. And he said, “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me” (Luke 19:27). That’s Jesus telling that parable. That is the fate of all those who fight against the King. It’s the same thing in Psalm 2:10-12, “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry with you… and his wrath flare up in a moment.” It’s terrifying to have Jesus’s wrath flare up against you. And so, in verse 21, every one of his enemies are killed with a sword that came out of his mouth.
Wes
That’s an incredibly powerful vision to conclude chapter 19. What final thoughts do you have for us on this passage today?
Andy
Jesus is coming to bring about his judgment. And so, we should be mindful of that. We should also see all current events in light of this great future event.
Again and again, when Jesus teaches on the second coming, he tells his people, “Be ready. Be ready for the second coming. Get ready. It’s coming. It’s going to come in a day you did not expect, in an hour you’re not aware of. “And therefore, live holy and upright lives,” Peter tells us that. “As you look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming” (2 Peter 3:12). So be holy men and women. Speed the day of God by evangelism. Warn other people of the coming of the Lord. Tell people what’s going to happen. Judgment day is coming. Jesus is coming to bring about his judgment. And so, we should be mindful of that. We should also see all current events in light of this great future event. So, whatever’s happening in American or world politics or economics or anything else to do with human society, any of that should be seen in light of the second coming of Christ and the judgment that’s coming after that. And so, we need to see that with eyes of faith.
Wes
This has been Episode 26 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 27 entitled, The Millennium, where we’ll discuss Revelation 20:1-10. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 26 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast, entitled The Second Coming of Christ, where we’ll discuss Revelation 19:11-21. I’m Wes Treadway and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, this is the climax of human history, the end of human history in this present evil age, the second coming of Christ. And so, we’re going to look at Revelation’s depiction of a warrior from heaven, King Jesus coming to defend or protect his bride still on earth being persecuted and coming back to destroy the Antichrist and his forces that have assembled to kill the people of God. And with that second coming of Christ, which is predicted in so many places in the New Testament, we have the consummation of this present evil age and then turning to a whole new world order. So, we’ll walk through that today.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses 11-21 in Revelation 19.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
Andy, what is the significance of the vision of a white horse with a rider on it and the names that the rider is given here?
Andy
One of the challenges of the Book of Revelation is to try to understand when its words should be taken literally and when its words should be taken figuratively. And so, we have a vision here of Christ in second coming glory. And we’re told later he has a sword coming out of his mouth. And I don’t know any evangelical interpreter that believes that’s going to be literally so. So, the same is true of the horse, is it literal or not? Generally, the second coming of Christ, Jesus simply says he’ll come with the clouds. And so, in the same way that he ascended from earth and the cloud hid him from their sight, he will come back with the clouds of heaven and doesn’t need any horse to ride. So, I don’t mind if some evangelicals will take it literally, but I think instead what we see here is Jesus as warrior. He’s coming as warrior.
And this goes to an image that we talked about a long time ago in this series of Jesus as both lion and lamb. How in the Book of Revelation chapter 5, we have the whole scroll in the right hand of the one seated there, and Jesus comes, and he’s depicted as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. “And then I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon based on this lion-lamb dichotomy and just saying how different those two animals are. So, a lion is ferocious, terrifying. A lamb is meek and lowly and humble. So, throughout the book we’ve had lamb even right up to the beginning of this chapter where it says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9). So Jesus is depicted again and again as a lamb, but here he’s behaving as a lion and he’s coming to destroy his enemies, I mean to rip them limb from limb, to shred them and kill them. And so, there is a very powerful picture of Jesus as a warrior king here coming to do damage on planet earth.
Wes
And why is Jesus’s faithfulness so important when it comes to the doctrine of the second coming, and how does it relate to the many promises he’s made to return to earth in power and great glory?
Andy
Right. Well, within your question is the answer. The reason it mentions faithfulness is he’s made all these promises. And he made the promises to come back. He said it again and again. “And if I go, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am.” And that’s in John 14:3, and many, many other places. He clearly says he’s going to return. The angels said he was going to return. “The same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you’ve seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). As parables imply, an absentee owner or king who then comes back and calls them to account. And so, he has promised again and again to come back. This is him keeping that promise. Frankly, the promise is right in the text we’re studying because he still hasn’t come back today. And so, this is still a promise, isn’t it? And so, he is faithful to keep his promises, and the central promise here is to come back.
Wes
Why is it vital to understand the statement, “With justice he judges and makes war?” And how is that different from the way earthly conquerors make war?
Andy
there have been lots of kangaroo courts and lots of injustice across history, great injustices. But Jesus judges with perfect justice
Well, this in my mind takes me back immediately to Isaiah 11 where it says the same thing, that Jesus is the judge who judges justly. With justice he renders decisions for the poor of the earth. And in Isaiah 11 he’s saying he renders them on behalf of the poor of the earth. He doesn’t show favoritism to financially poor people. It’s not that. But instead, he is a true and righteous judge. And the contrast is that judges have a sin nature, and most of them, as unregenerate men, have judged as what would benefit them or the regime that they were trying to uphold. So, there have been lots of kangaroo courts and lots of injustice across history, great injustices. But Jesus judges with perfect justice. And he is, in John 5, “The one entrusted with all judgment,” as Jesus said. And he has, “entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father.” That’s John 5:23. And so, Jesus judges with justice.
Wes
Now I want to look at the details of verse 12 and try to help our listeners understand the significance of what’s laid out here. The rider’s eyes being like blazing fire, the many crowns that are on his head, and this name that’s written on him that no one knows but himself. What is going on here in verse 12?
Andy
Yeah, that’s an incredibly rich verse, and it shows the symbolism here. It’s just overpowering. First, “eyes like blazing fire,” we’ve seen in the original vision of Jesus back in Revelation 1. And I think what it means is he has pure eyes. Like Habakkuk 1:13, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, you cannot tolerate wrong.” Jesus sees with holy eyes; he sees everything righteously and clearly. And it’s also terrifying if you are an enemy of God. And you’re wicked, and he looks at you with eyes like blazing fire, you know that you’re in trouble. It’s a terrifying thing. And then it says, “on his head are many crowns.” And of course there’s that famous hymn, “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” And the idea is that there are different realms and aspects of Jesus’s kingly reign. He rules over all things. And it will say later in this vision, “He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.” And so, every crown belongs to him ultimately. So, any way you can honor Jesus, he deserves it.
So, with many crowns on his head, it means there are many reasons to honor him and esteem him and also to obey him as king. And then it says he, “has a name written on him that no one knows, but he himself.” And I think what that means is there are aspects of Jesus that he has hidden and concealed to himself. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2:11, “No one knows a man except the spirit of the man within him. And in the same way, no one knows God except God’s Spirit that searches the deep things within him.” And so, I think the idea here is that there are aspects of Jesus’s personality, of his will, of his mindset that you do not understand, and the name represents those things. He has aspects to himself that only he fully understands. Jesus says this very plainly in the Gospels. He says, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). So, we understand the second half, it’s like no one really knows God, but Jesus came to reveal God to us. But the first half, we don’t tend to think about. “No one knows the Son except the Father.” In other words, only God really knows who the Son is.
Wes
What’s the significance of the fact that his robe is dipped in blood, and how does, “his name is The Word of God,” help identify or describe the rider?
Andy
All right, so I have to think that this robe dipped in blood is carnage rather than the atoning blood shed on the cross. And the image I get out of this is in Isaiah 63 where the warrior comes and he’s treading the winepress, which is mentioned later here, and the blood is spattering his robe. So that’s an image from Isaiah 63 of a warrior stomping through a battlefield and crushing his enemies. And so, his robe is dipped in blood, implying the carnage that he’s going to wreak on his enemies. I don’t mind if an interpreter would see the robe dipped in blood is related to the blood he shed on the cross, but it doesn’t really fit here. He’s coming back as a warrior to kill his enemies. And “his name is The Word of God,” of course takes us to one of the most famous passages in the New Testament, and that’s John 1:1. “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” And Jesus was called the Word of God.
And I think the reason for that is the incredible power of the Word of God. It is by the breath of his mouth that the heavens were formed and all of the stars. God created all things by the word of his power, and Jesus is that word of power. It is by Jesus that God has created all things. Jesus, therefore, is the word of God’s power by which he speaks power to the earth. Now here the Word of God is coming to the earth to bring judgment, the very thing that he threatened. He is faithful to his promises, but he’s also faithful to keep his warnings and his threats. And so, he’s coming to bring judgment. I also think it relates, as we’ve said earlier in this podcast today, to the sword coming out of his mouth. And also 2 Thessalonians 2:8, it says that he’s going to, “destroy the Antichrist with the breath of his mouth.” And so, all he has to do is speak and say, “Be dead,” and you’re dead. There’s nothing you can do because, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And so Jesus is the Word of God.
Wes
Now who’s riding with Jesus and how are they described?
Andy
Yeah. With him are the armies of heaven. Remember when Jesus was being arrested and Peter drew his sword to fight for him, he said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father and he would at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?” Well, a legion is 6,000. 12 legions would be 72,000 angels. Well, there’s a lot more than that in heaven, there’s a hundred million. There are myriads of myriads. And so, I don’t know if heaven is emptied, and all of the angels are coming. It is the greatest overkill there could ever be.
First of all, they’re completely unnecessary. They’re not there to fight. They are the armies of heaven. And Lord Sabaoth, Lord Almighty means the commander of the armies of heaven, and they could fight. But it seems that the fighting is left to Jesus here. He is the one that’s doing the killing. Now he might do it through the angels, but at very least they’re just there to witness the awesome power of the wrath of Jesus as he fights his enemies. So, they’re there, the armies of heaven, and I think they could involve both angels and humans. So, we’re talking about the redeemed. And as they come with him, they’re coming to fight and to fight this final battle that’s described in this chapter.
I also want to say something about the linen that they’re wearing, fine and clean. And I think if this represents the saints coming, the armies of heaven, then it implies directly the imputed righteousness of Christ. And the fact that their shameful nakedness has been covered in Christ’s perfect righteousness.
Wes
Now, we’ve talked about the sword coming out of his mouth, but how should we interpret the sword coming out of his mouth and what does it teach us about Christ’s power?
Andy
So, concerning the sword that comes out of the mouth of Jesus, “Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword.” The word sharp of course brings me in Hebrews 4:12 to the word of God. The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It’s able to divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It severs. That’s what swords do. It slices apart. And so out of Jesus’ mouth comes this sharp sword. So, it’s a perfect sword, a sharp sword, a fierce sword. It says of Leviathan, in Isaiah 27, that God will destroy the coiling serpent of the deep with his fierce great and powerful sword. Again, that’s the word of God. I think it’s word of God weaponized. When God says, “Be dead,” you’re dead. When God says, “Go to hell,” you go to hell. He can do anything.
And so out of his mouth comes a very effective weapon and there is none more powerful ever than the word of God spoken by Jesus. So out of his mouth comes this sharp sword and it’s there clearly to kill. “With which to strike down the nations.” And then we have this quote, very well-known from Psalm 2:9, “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” And so that is the sovereign power. Psalm 2 there is referring to the folly of fighting against God and against his anointed one. And the warning in Psalm 2 is to not oppose him because if he strikes you down with his iron scepter, you’ll be crushed forever.
Wes
So, we have this quote from Psalm 2. We also get the language that you spoke of as alluded to or quoted from Isaiah 63 here at the end of verse 15. “He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” What do we learn from that coupling of that quote from Psalm 2 and then the language of treading the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God at the end of verse 15?
Andy
It’s absolutely overpowering. And I would commend our listeners to read Isaiah 63:3. He says, “I’ve trodden the winepress alone from the nations, no one was with me.” This is Jesus fighting the battle of God awesomely. Here, I’ll read part of it. “Who is this, coming from Edom, from Bozrah with his garments stained crimson?” So, there’s that robe spattered in blood.
Who is this robed in splendor, striding forth in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why are your garments red like those of one treading the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, from the nations no one was with me; I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; and their blood spattered my garments and I stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance was in my heart and the year of my redemption has come (Isaiah 62:1-4).
And so, this is judgment day, it’s a terrifying image of judgment day.
And I want to say something about this incredible statement about the treading of the winepress. The King James version of this says, “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” Jonathan Edwards, in the most famous sermon that has ever been preached in American church history, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” zeroes in on the specific statement. “He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” This is what Jonathan Edwards said.
The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, “the wrath of God,” the words would’ve implied that which is infinitely dreadful. But it is not only said so, but the fierceness and wrath of God, the fury of God, the fierceness of Jehovah. Oh, how dreadful must that be? Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them? But it has not only said so, but the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God as though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict as though omnipotence should be, as it were, enraged and excited as men to tend to exert their strength and the fierceness of their wrath. Oh, then what will the consequence be? What will become of the poor worm that shall suffer it? Whose hands can be strong? Whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk who shall be the subject of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God?
So, it’s terrifying.
Wes
What’s the significance of the name that follows on the heels of this that’s so familiar to us in verse 16, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” and what should we make of the fact that this name is written on his robe and on his thigh?
Andy
Jesus is the King of all kings. He’s the king of those wicked kings. He’s the king of antichrists. He’s king of every king there’s ever been. And so, this is absolute, complete, total sovereignty.
It means that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus. There are created beings that have authority, and they’re held accountable for what they do with their authority. And we’ve seen in Revelation 17 how the kings of the earth band together to give their power to the beast, to the antichrist. So, he is a moderated king of kings, lowercase k, lowercase k. He rules over the earth, the whole earth. That one world government. Jesus is the King of all kings. He’s the king of those wicked kings. He’s the king of antichrists. He’s king of every king there’s ever been. And so, this is absolute, complete, total sovereignty. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Also, in the future, those who are redeemed will sit on thrones with authority, ruling over 10 cities or five cities or lesser parts of his domain, and they will be moderated, redeemed, glorified kings. But Jesus is still the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Also, the Book of Daniel, Daniel 7 says that his saints will reign under him. And so, we’ll have authority. So, looking back, he’s the King of wicked kings and he’s the Lord of wicked lords and will judge them for what they did with their authority. Looking ahead, he’s the King of redeemed and glorified kings and redeemed and glorified lords who will rule under him in the new heaven and the new earth.
Wes
What happens next in John’s vision in verses 17 and 18? And what is this great supper of God?
Andy
Well, the Great Supper, this is Armageddon, if you put it all together. We’ve already had in Revelation 16 the gathering together of armies in one place called Armageddon. This is just depicting that again. And as they gather together, they’re coming to die. They are humans. They have human bodies. Their bodies are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. They have bones and muscle and sinew and arteries and capillaries and nerves and all that. And they’re there with weapons and they’re there to fight. Now I believe if you look at the big picture, what’s happened is, by this point all Israel has been saved. The temple has been taken over by Antichrist. The Jews have turned away from their old covenant animal sacrifice, at last, finally, to recognize in Jesus the final sacrifice and the end of all animal sacrifices in Jesus, their perfect priest and prophet and king. The Son of David, at last. They will look on him, the one they pierced, and they’ll believe in him and trust in him. And so, they will be saved as it says in Romans 11:26, “All Israel will be saved.”
But now they’re the enemies of the Antichrist. And not just Jews, but there will be Christians as well and they will be hiding and fleeing and trying to survive those days that Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive” (Matthew 24:22). And so, at this point, the Antichrist and all of its forces are seeking a genocide. They’re pursuing, especially those who live near Jerusalem or Judea, that area, they’re pursuing them to kill them. And this is motivating Jesus to come down from heaven. Also, we get the same thing in Revelation 12 where the dragon pursues the children of the women. And we walked through all that and you can read it. But he goes after them to kill them and that motivates Christ to come and rescue them and save them. And so, it’s a battle and it’s going to be incredibly one-sided, but not the way the Antichrist thought. The Antichrist has all power. The 10 kings that gave him their power have all power. They have all this military strength. The Euphrates River is open, and a hundred million soldiers are coming. It’s just overwhelming. And you’ve got this small band of believers that are fleeing for their lives and hiding in caves and all that. They are greatly over-matched.
But the Antichrist doesn’t understand the real imbalance of power is between him and Christ. So, Christ comes with omnipotence and with the armies of heaven to defeat the armies of the earth. And so, the call for carrion birds to come… And Jesus also said in Matthew 24:28, “Wherever there is a carcass, there, the vultures will gather.” There’s mass death. It’s just absolute carnage. It’s a bloodbath. The sword that comes out of Jesus’s mouth, it’s not a quick, painless death. He’s hacking them in this way. And I don’t think there’s a literal sword, but there is literal carnage. And so, their bodies are exploding. And so, the carrion birds come, and they’re gorged. The verse actually says, “Come and be gorged.” Do you have a translation?
Wes
Yeah. In verse 21, “All the birds were gorged with their flesh.”
Andy
Yeah, so they ate their full, and there was more still. So, there’s too much carcass and not enough carrion birds. It’s terrifying. So, this is carnage. This is actual literal destruction at the end of the earth.
Wes
What does verse 19 describe and what do we learn from this verse?
Andy
Yeah, I want to say something about 19. I want to say verse 18 also. It says, “so you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, freeing slaves, small and great.” So, this is a universal judgment on the enemies of Jesus, just carnage everywhere. And so, all types and categories. Now it is debatable whether every single enemy of Jesus is destroyed. We will in the next podcast talk about the millennium. And some say there are still some enemies that could be redeemed or won over. The complexity here is off the chart, but at least in verse 18, we know all categories are coming to be the focus of the wrath.
And then, “The beast,” it says in 19, “and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.” So, they’re there, and they don’t know that they’re there to fight Jesus. I mean, who would ever do that? Here’s Jesus coming with an angelic and redeemed army from heaven down to earth. Who’s going to fight that? But that’s what they are doing by fighting against God’s people. Think about what Jesus said to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). So, “You come after my bride, I’m going to beat you up. I’m going to destroy you. I’m not going to allow you to destroy my people. I will protect them.” And so, he comes, they’re gathered. The beast is the Antichrist. The kings of the earth that together gave him their power, come together. All the armies come together. They’re all in one place to be slaughtered. They don’t know they are there to be slaughtered, but that’s what they are there to do.
Wes
Now, what was the outcome of the battle and what happened to the beast and the false prophet?
Andy
Well, predictably, Jesus wins. As we already said earlier, they’ll make war against him, but he will be victorious because he is King of kings and Lord of lords. It says that plainly earlier, I think in Revelation 17. And here again, it’s predictable. The beast loses and the beast is captured. And with him, the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. So, he’s captured too. And with these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. And then the two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Now we’re going to talk much about that at the end of Revelation 20, but that’s hell. So, they’re cast into hell. And so, it’s the end of their reign. It’s the end of their time, and they have lost. It definitely reminds me of Isaiah 14 where the king of Babylon, so to speak, Lucifer, but also the literal king of Babylon is marveled at as having been cast down into the nether regions into judgment. “You who were once great and made the nations tremble, now you’ve been cast down” (Isaiah 14:12). And so that’s true of Satan ultimately, and we’ll get to that. But the beast and the Antichrist are thrown into the lake of fire.
Wes
So that’s the outcome for the beast and the false prophet. What happened to the rest of the wicked army that had been gathered to fight against Christ? And what’s the significance, as we’ve already discussed, of the birds gorging themselves on the flesh of the wicked at the end of this vision?
Andy
Right. So, the entire army that’s there in service to the beast and the kings, they all get killed. It’s just absolute carnage, with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse. So again, that’s why I say that the armies from heaven don’t really have a job to do. And that’s because of this verse 21. Who does all the killing? Jesus. It’s effortless for him. He’s not sweating, he’s not getting tired as he swings his sword. It’s just done, it’s judgment. And he as effortlessly created the universe in six days by the word of his power, can bring about death for his enemies as well.
I’ll tell you, this should expand and deepen our understanding of who Jesus is. He is Lamb, he is the Lamb of God. He’s gentle. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light for us. But he’s a lion too. He’s a terrifying, righteous king who will destroy his enemies. He’ll kill them eternally in hell. And so, in the Parable of the Minas, there was a delegation of his subjects who hated him and did not want him to be king over them. And he said, “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me” (Luke 19:27). That’s Jesus telling that parable. That is the fate of all those who fight against the King. It’s the same thing in Psalm 2:10-12, “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry with you… and his wrath flare up in a moment.” It’s terrifying to have Jesus’s wrath flare up against you. And so, in verse 21, every one of his enemies are killed with a sword that came out of his mouth.
Wes
That’s an incredibly powerful vision to conclude chapter 19. What final thoughts do you have for us on this passage today?
Andy
Jesus is coming to bring about his judgment. And so, we should be mindful of that. We should also see all current events in light of this great future event.
Again and again, when Jesus teaches on the second coming, he tells his people, “Be ready. Be ready for the second coming. Get ready. It’s coming. It’s going to come in a day you did not expect, in an hour you’re not aware of. “And therefore, live holy and upright lives,” Peter tells us that. “As you look forward to the day of God and speed it’s coming” (2 Peter 3:12). So be holy men and women. Speed the day of God by evangelism. Warn other people of the coming of the Lord. Tell people what’s going to happen. Judgment day is coming. Jesus is coming to bring about his judgment. And so, we should be mindful of that. We should also see all current events in light of this great future event. So, whatever’s happening in American or world politics or economics or anything else to do with human society, any of that should be seen in light of the second coming of Christ and the judgment that’s coming after that. And so, we need to see that with eyes of faith.
Wes
This has been Episode 26 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 27 entitled, The Millennium, where we’ll discuss Revelation 20:1-10. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
