Christ’s Return to Judge and to Rule

Transcript

GR 2050
07/29/2018
Christ’s Return to Judge and to Rule
Revelation 19:11-21
Gil Rugh

We’re in Revelation chapter 19. Chapter 19 is in effect the culmination, of what all has been taking place since the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden. Man’s rebellion against God. This earth under the domination of Satan. All the empires that have come and gone, manifesting the reality of our sin in our rejection of the living God. We come to Armageddon in chapter 19 of Revelation. Even people in the world who don’t know much about the bible, are familiar with Armageddon, have made movies and so on, not about the biblical Armageddon but that climactic battle. This is the climactic battle of earth’s history. There’ll be a later conflict, but this brings us to the end of satanic empires. This brings us to the end of man as the subject of the devil attempting to construct an alternative to God’s plan. With the end of chapter 19, we will be ready for the establishing of Christ’s earthly kingdom, a kingdom that will have no end.

In Revelation 19, we looked at the first part of the chapter and I noted we’re going to be overviewing the chapter. I want to deal with the last part of the chapter in our study today. Then we will go back and pick up some matters that we have left out that I think are important, but since I will be gone for a period of time here, I wanted to at least get the overview of chapter 19 in. Then there are events we have to deal with that are associated with the establishing of the kingdom on earth, so that will be a fitting time for us to fill in some of the details from chapter 19, and prepare us for chapter 20 and the establishing of the earthly kingdom of Christ.

Chapter 19 brings us to a stark contrast between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. Just turn back in your bibles if you would to Matthew chapter 2. You remember when Christ was born, angels appeared to shepherds on the night of His birth, and those shepherds responded to the message of the angels. They went in and worshiped Christ even as He was still in that stable. Sometime later, a group of men from the east and Matthew chapter 2 calls them mago or magi as we call them. Sometimes they have been referred to as kings and we have the song, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” There were a number of them but we’re not told how many, but they saw the Star indicating the birth of Christ while they were in the east. Where we don’t know, perhaps they were in Persia, modern day Iran, but they have made the journey to Jerusalem. We know a little bit of time has passed at least because Christ is no longer in that stable with His parents. They have moved to a house.

When they come to Bethlehem, Herod is in the closing period of time of his reign. This is Herod the Great, and they arrive in Jerusalem and they begin to ask, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His sign in the east we’ve come to worship Him.” Now the amazing thing is, they have seen this star that indicated and marked the birth of Christ. They understood that it signified that the Messiah of Israel had been born, the King of the Jews. They make this long arduous journey to Jerusalem, and travel in those days was not like today. That would be a significant journey and they’ve come to worship Him, and imagine, they get to Jerusalem and nobody knows anything about it. Verse three, “When Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.” These men have traveled this journey, evidently men of some knowledge and wealth to worship the King of the Jews. News to us but Herod is concerned so he gathers the Jewish leaders, the experts in the Old Testament Law and verse 4 “He inquired of them, ‘Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?’” and it’s no secret. Micah the prophet wrote about this so verse five, “in Bethlehem of Judea” and then he quotes from the prophecy of Micah so fine; you’d think everybody would be excited. Herod would say “wow,” the Jewish leaders, “our Messiah may be here!” No, it seems the Jewish leaders, you know--nothing, they’re not interested.

Herod’s interested but for the wrong reason. Isn’t it amazing here, here’s a person who believes that the Old Testament prophet could tell you where the Messiah would be born. He doesn’t tell these men go back home you’re mistaken. He says go to Bethlehem and if you find Him come back and tell me so I can come worship Him, but his intention is I need to know who this is, He may be a rival to my throne. I need to know where He is, so I can kill Him. Amazing! If he really believed that a baby has been born that is the fulfillment of a prophecy given hundreds of years before, would you be thinking, “well I have to kill that baby so He doesn’t take my kingdom.” Herod’s a dying man. You know something of him. He had one of his sons executed shortly before he died because he thought that son wanted to inherit the throne. Sin has no rational. Well, at any rate, all of that to say that’s the first coming of Christ to earth. Pretty quiet, nothing heralded except by angels.

Come over to Matthew 24 and in coming studies we’ll be in Matthew 24 and 25, somewhat because this is the Olivet Discourse when Christ unfolds the truth regarding His second coming. We’ve been here because Revelation has been about much of what Christ talks about here. In Matthew 24 it warned them in verse 15 about a coming time when an abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet would be set up in the temple in Jerusalem. We saw this in Revelation chapters 12 and 13 and 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 along with Daniel. That will be the middle of the seven-year period leading up to where we are in Revelation 19, so Jesus tells them in verse 21, for then, when this abomination is set up, “there will be a great tribulation, such as has never occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will ever be.” He goes on to say “if I didn’t come and put a stop to it, there wouldn’t be a survivor on the face of the earth.”

We’ve seen in our study of Revelation, by the time you get to chapter 19, already billions of people on the earth have died during that seven-year period, but Christ’s return to earth will bring it to an end after seven years and regarding His coming . . . We’ll just read these verses that’ll come up some, in chapter 19. Verse 23 “if anyone says to you, ‘Behold here is Christ’ or ‘There He is, don’t believe him.’ For false Christs false prophets will arise will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” We’ve talked about, there will be spectacular miracles being done by the devil and his servants during this time. It’s God’s intention to give the devil greater freedom in deceiving the world. Second Thessalonians 2 says God “will send a strong delusion that they should believe a lie but Christ said ‘if they tell you I’ve come don’t believe it.’ I’ll tell you,” Verse 27 “Just as the lightning comes from the east, flashes even to the west, so will the coming off the Son of Man be.”

Verse 29 “immediately after the tribulation of those days,” so we know when Christ is coming. After the 70th week of Daniel, the tribulation that Daniel prophesized about, which Christ has been talking about that involves the setting up of the abomination spoken of by Daniel. After the tribulation of those days, you’ll have these heavenly signs. Verse 30 “then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.”

You see the contrast. First coming to earth, born in a little town in a stable about five miles outside of Jerusalem. Nobody is even aware of what’s going on, nobody of importance and nobody cares for the right reason in Jerusalem. Herod is the only one who cares and he cares because he sees it as a potential threat to his throne.

The second coming of Christ to earth you won’t have to go tell people. A few years ago, I got this packet of material in the mail telling me, the Messiah is here. He was born, and it had this picture of this young boy, where in the part of the earth he had been born, and he’s the one who’s going to rule and reign. You know you read that stuff, you don’t even have to bother paying any attention. No, the Messiah’s been born and this is Him. Well that goes in what we call file 13. Do I have to read it? Do I have to say Oh I wonder if there’s any truth to that? Jesus already said, if anybody tells you that, don’t believe it, because when I come the second time everybody will know it.

Come back to Isaiah 64 we’ll pick this up as well, so we’ll refer to it again when we move through chapter 19. Isaiah 64 and leave a marker here. We will come back to this section, Isaiah 64 verse 1. “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence.” Now sometimes this is taken--a number of years ago we did some studies on revivals and revivalism and if you read any literature on revivals and people wanting revival to come they often quote Isaiah 64:1, Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down that the mountains might quake at Your presence. The problem is they’re not taking it literally. I mean a revival like we think of, the great revival under Johnathan Edwards or other times when God has done special spiritual works on the earth. What Isaiah is talking about and anticipating is the return of Christ to the earth when the heavens will be rent. They will part so Christ can descend in power and great glory that’s when the mountains will quake. Verse 2, “as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—to make Your name known to Your adversaries that the nations may tremble at Your presence!” He comes on down talking about what He will do. We’re talking about the coming of Christ to earth. It will be a time when heaven opens, Christ descends, His enemies will be destroyed His people will be rescued.

Come back. On your way, stop at Zechariah. Zechariah it’s at the end of the Old Testament. These are verses we were going to do as we moved through chapter 19. We’ll pick it up now. Zechariah is the next to the last book of the Old Testament, we’re in chapter 9. Look at verse 9. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation. Humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on the colt, the foal of a donkey.” You know when verse nine was fulfilled? Remember Palm Sunday, when they went and got that colt and brought it so Christ could ride into Jerusalem, and they gave praise, “Hosanna” and cast palms on the ground before Him? That’s when that was fulfilled. It’s quoted in the New Testament as being fulfilled then.

Look at verse 10, “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim the horse from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be cut off. He will speak peace to the nations; his dominion will be from sea to sea from the River to the ends of the earth.” You know what that’s talking about, what will happen at the second coming of Christ? That’s why some people get confused with prophecy. Between verse 9 and verse 10 as we have it, there are 2,000 years. That’s why Peter said the “Old Testament prophets couldn’t understand what they were writing about;” Christ was going to come, suffer and die, Christ was come to rule and reign because God didn’t intend—everything that’s said is true here. Verse 9 is literally true, fulfilled at the first coming of Christ. Verse 10 is to be taken literally, fulfilled at the second coming of Christ.

Now I mention this—those who don’t take prophecy literally say well there’s no break here, so what is said in verse 10, must be just spiritual truths. Christ rules spiritually today and He rules in the hearts of people. No, it’s going to be fulfilled literally. The New Testament unfolds that there are two comings to earth of Christ. The first one 2,000 years ago the second one, shortly. We’re not told when. All right, when He comes the second time, He’ll set up a kingdom that will encompass the entire earth. Verse 10, “from sea to sea to the ends of the earth.” That’s where we’re going in chapter 20 of Revelation, the establishing of this eternal kingdom.

Okay, now we can come back to chapter 19. You see verse 11. We saw the first 10 verses prepare the way for the return of Christ, tell you what’s going on in heaven and so on, as heaven has anticipated this event. This is finally, what we’re looking for, what we’ve been expecting and waiting for, Christ coming to earth to destroy His enemies, set up His kingdom, so verse 11 “and I saw heaven opened.” Remember we read the prophecy of Isaiah. “O that you would rend the heavens. Heaven opens and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.” We just read in Zachariah, at His first coming He enters Jerusalem, the week of His crucifixion, on a donkey but there to be rejected and crucified. Now He comes on a white horse, coming as the victor to claim that which is His by redemption, by creation, but because of sin it took His work of redemption to enable the kingdom to be established.

He’s called Faithful and True. Names are given to Him through this section that reveal something of His character, the actions that will take place because of who He is. He is the One who is faithful and true. He’s trustworthy, He is true. “Jesus said, ‘I am the way the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.’” He is true, He’s the true Messiah of Israel. Remember we read, “Jesus prophesized, ‘many will come in My name.’” there’ll be many false messiahs doing miracles that delude and deceive people. He’s the One who is true, He’s genuine. He’s the faithful One who comes in fulfillment of all that has been prophesized and said.

He is also the One who, in righteousness, judges and wages war. In one of our previous times, last Sunday night, I was talking to you about a man who writes claiming to be evangelical but doesn’t believe God is a God of violence. In his interpreting the bible, he takes all the portions out that would indicate that God has done something violent, says that’s just men writing how they perceived, or interpreted things, but it wasn’t really God working. You can’t just deny Scripture, and here Christ comes and we’re told “in righteousness, He judges and wages war.” It is right, it is consistent with the righteous character of God that He pour out His wrath and judgment on His enemies, on sinners in rebellion against Him. He’s coming to bring judgment on the devil’s kingdom, and the devil’s people, all those who have not come to the salvation and redemption provided in Christ. In righteousness He judges and makes war. Righteousness characterizes Him in all He does.

It’s right that He destroys the wicked. Remember when He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham came and appealed on behalf of his nephew Lot, who was living in those cities and “Abraham prayed, ‘God You wouldn’t destroy the righteous with the wicked.’” Now he’s not telling God, he’s just asking God and praying that He will act, as he knows He will, consistent with His character and God does not destroy Lot, that righteous man, with the wicked in Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, when the angel came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah he said to Lot and his family, you have to get out of here because I can’t destroy the city until you leave, because God doesn’t destroy the righteous with the wicked. So here, He comes in righteousness to judge and wage war and when all’s said and done at Armageddon and the judgments that follow all the wicked on the face of the earth, everyone will have been executed, some at Armageddon, some at the judgments that will follow Armageddon. We’ll see that in our coming studies, so He’s righteous, He judges and wages war righteously.

“His eyes are a flame of fire.” Now we began the Book of Revelation with John having a vision of the resurrected glorified Christ. It is an awesome vision of Christ in His resurrection glory that was veiled even in His resurrection appearances after the resurrection from the dead during those 40 days when He ministered with His disciples. Then He ascended to heaven and the glory that was His was restored. Remember, He prayed in John 17, “restore to Me the glory I had with You before the world was.” John saw Him in Revelation chapter 1 and in that; “His eyes were like a flame of fire burning” that purifying all-knowing gaze. All that’s false all that dross is seen through. It’s clear He cannot be deceived, there’s nothing He does not know, so He comes to judge righteously. He has the eyes that are as a flame of fire, and He comes with that destructive judgment of all that is dross. The wicked that must be destroyed. We can put on a veneer and fool one another. We cannot put on a veneer and fool God. He says I try the hearts, the motives the minds. Paul referred to the time when God would judge the motives of men’s hearts, so His eyes are a flame of fire.

“On His head are many diadems.” Now down in verse 16 He’s going to be called “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” That relates to His having many diadems. Now you are aware in Greek, two basic crowns, the stephanos and the diadem. Stephanos, the crown of a victor. When you had won a battle, when you won an athletic contest, you were awarded a stephanos crown. The diadem is the crown of a ruler and incidentally Christ can wear both crowns because He is the one who has brought victory. He is the Victor, so He can wear the stephanos but here He has the diadems because He’s Lord of lords and King of kings. He comes to rule and reign over all. Remember His kingdom will go to the ends of the earth. It will encompass all, everywhere, so He wears many diadems. He is the absolute ruler.

He also “has a name, which no one can know,” the last part of verse 12, “except Himself,” so I take it that means that’s not any of the names mentioned here. He’s called “Faithful and True,” in verse 11 but He has a name that’s written on Him but no one knows what that name is or means, but Himself. Now it’s amazing how much discussion can be given about a name, which the bible makes clear no one knows, and then you get all the guesses of what it might be. The names in the bible reveal something about the person, his character. This is something about Him, unknowable, because remember back in the Old Testament when, just to mention the fact, He was asked His name. He says, “Why do you ask my name since it’s wonderful?” It’s incomprehensible.

You know through all eternity we will not exhaust the knowledge of God. We are, and will always be, even when we receive our glorified bodies and dwell in God’s presence for--how do you say, I don’t know a hundred trillion years, whatever when you talk about eternity. We won’t know all there is to know about God, so there is that which only God can know about Himself, that complete knowledge of God, so at least we know here, there’s a name, which no one can know, and yet God wanted it written down here. You say, “well why did He not just pass over it, if it’s a name, which nobody can know He could just have left it out.” He wants us to know, it’s a name that only, Christ knows. Will it ever be revealed? I don’t know, maybe when we move into the eternal aspect of the kingdom and God now resides on earth and heaven is on earth, there will be something further revealed about God that He wants us to know because we’re going to be, I guess, learning and growing forever, so that’s the name which is not known.

Verse 13, “He’s clothed with a robe dipped in blood” and the robe dipped in blood, I take it, is a reference because He’s going to be describing here what happens at Armageddon, the destruction of the enemies of God. Come back to Isaiah 63. We may have some more to say about this at a future study but for now, just some highlights. “Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah?” Now, He’s pictured coming from the region of what we know of today as modern-day Jordan, but it’s the Messiah coming, the One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength. “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” “Why is Your apparel red? Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?” The response, “I have trodden the wine trough alone, from the peoples there was no man with Me. I trod them in My anger, I trampled them in My wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments. I stained all My raiment. The day of vengeance was in My heart; My year of redemption has come.” Down in verse 6 “I trod down the peoples in My anger, made them drunk in My wrath. I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

That’s what’s being ultimately now fulfilled in the second coming of Christ at Armageddon and the picture is and some of you have been to Israel and seen them, others you’ve seen pictures at least. They take a big stone, they carve it out like a bowl and then they would put a spout or a drain out the side so that the juice could run down and then they would put a collecting spot lower down to collect the juice and then they would take their garment and bind it up. They wore those long garments, bind it up, that’s why they use the analogy, “gird up your loins” for action because with those long garments they get in the way, so they’d pick them up and belt them around their waist, so then they get in, in their bare feet and they trample around in that upper basin. The grapes have all been dumped in there; then they stomp around and as they trample them, the juice runs out, runs down the spout and is collected in the lower basin. Here that picture is taken of Christ, the enemies are just like the grapes being trampled by Him, and their blood is splashing up on His garments. That’s the picture here of the destruction of His enemies as they’re being crushed on Him and is a literal destruction. It is a grizzly scene that is being displayed, it’s not new material.

As I say, we get to Revelation 19, we’re seeing fulfilled, now, so much of what the prophecies of the Old Testament anticipated. Come back to chapter 19 of Revelation, so we have this carnage that will take place, His robe dipped in blood. We’ll get a description of it in verses 15 and following, but you have a name at the end of verse 13, His name is called “The Word of God.” Now some have said that perhaps that’s what the name that no one knows except Himself is. Now, we’re told His name is called “The Word of God.” I don’t think so, because that’s not a new name. John in his gospels wrote--remember how John’s gospel begins in chapter 1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Then down in verse 14 “and the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

You see there. What is the Word? The Word, you know our words reveal what we are. You know we used to say, “a penny for your thoughts.” That’s meaningless now since nobody even bends over to pick up a penny but you note the idea is still conveyed. We’ll say to someone, “tell me what you’re thinking. What’s on your mind, express it to me because when you put it in words then I know something of what’s going on in your thinking.” You know I’d say you can tell your husband or wife is lost in thought—like when I look out, I can tell people, hmmm, they’re somewhere else. I can’t see you quite that well, but you can tell, and you’ll say, “what are you thinking?” You want them to reveal themselves. What’s on your mind? Sometimes after you’ve spent some time doing something you’ll ask, “what did you think about that?” That’s why He’s called the Word. He came to earth what? He came to reveal the Father, to make Him known, so by His being present on earth, it was a revelation.

Come back to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1, the first three verses. “God, after He spoke to the fathers in the prophets, in many portions, in many ways,” you see God spoke through the prophets and we have the record of what He spoke through the prophets. We’ve just read Isaiah for example. “In these last days has spoken to us in His Son.” His Son can be called the Word because the fullest clearest revelation has been given when God, was tabernacled in human flesh on this earth. “He has spoken to us in His Son” and this Son is the One in verse three “who is the radiance of His glory,” the exact representation of His nature. I mean you don’t get any clearer. What did He say to Thomas when Thomas said, “Show us the Father, and that will be sufficient?” Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Not that Christ is the Father, but He is God. “All the fullness of Deity dwelt in Him in bodily form” Colossians tells us, so He’s the Word of God. Do you want to know about God? You find out about Him in Christ and the revelation given in the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation has its fullness and clarity with what Christ has accomplished. We understand God in the fullest clearest way now that Christ has come, so He’s called the Word of God. In that, we have God now present back on earth in the person of the Son, who is and eternally will be the God-Man. God dwelling in a human body, so He’s called the Word of God.

Verse 14 “and the armies, which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” Who are these? Well I think for sure it includes the Church up in verse 8. We didn’t get into detail but the Church here, as it’s been judged and rewarded, clothed in fine linen, bright and clean, the fine linen is “the righteous acts of the saints,” and as we’ll talk about with the judgments of Scripture, as we do in our coming studies in anticipation of Revelation 20, that’s the Church. Now I assume angels will be with Him because Matthew 25 tells us that when Christ comes the angels of heaven will be with Him and they get clothed in garments of white because they have served permanently in the presence of God, so fitting that they would be clothed fitting for His presence. They had never sinned, and I take it we have the armies, but in the context, the focal point, you and I, we’ll be here. This glorious event!

I have to make a little adjustment to Scripture here. It says the armies, which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses and in white cars. I just can’t imagine. I’ve had limited experience with horses, none of it good. I just, you know, I picture myself coming in, falling off one side, falling off—it can’t be that way. My first experience was on a donkey. Lesson learned. You know it was in the days when you know somebody would come around the neighborhood and bring their horse and then you’d take the picture. I know Chuck and Betty remember it because they’re older than me but, well, my parents decided to take me out to a farm. We lived in Pittsburg and I could get my picture taken on a donkey. They sat me on the back of that donkey. You know the next thing that happened? The back end of that donkey went up. You know little Gilbert, where he went? He went over the top. Lesson learned animals were not meant to be ridden. Then I went out on a farm, Dutch and Onneatta Rikli’s, such a good time with them, but they took us to the farm and put us on horses. I had forgotten, I guess the original experience had dimmed, but we went out for a ride. You know horses have a mind of their own. I’m off the subject but that horse and I didn’t agree where we should go. But these will be glorified horses. You don’t think I’m going to ride a regular horse in my glorified body do you, besides they come out of heaven. Don’t write me any comments about whether there’ll be horses in heaven.

All right, so we’re coming out of heaven and this glorious scene and that’s the point. You know this is spectacular! We’re there. Can you imagine when Christ said in Revelation that heaven will open and every eye will see Him? We’re going to be in this descending army. From His mouth comes a sharp sword. That doesn’t mean we’ll be doing any fighting. Now when it says from His mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it, He may strike down the nations and He’ll rule them with a rod of iron, picture His very word.

You know Hebrews says the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, and the word of God brings destruction. Christ comes down and perhaps as has happened on occasion in the Old Testament, how just the word of God caused the armies that were there to turn against themselves and they begin to slaughter one another. Now here you have for 3½ years we’ve had a world empire under the domination of the Antichrist. Now the armies are together. People from all nationalities and so on joined his army and now Christ is descending and they have joined together to do battle against Him. Christ speaks the word; chaos they turn on one another and the slaughter is huge. He’ll rule them with a rod of iron and that word in the context here is in the context of their judgment, He’s exercising judgment on them. Ultimately, He will rule in the kingdom, but here in the context of the sword bringing destruction and the rule of them, Him treading the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. It is an awesome scene of destruction.

On His robe and on His thigh He has a name, so you see we have a series of things here revealing things about God, the Son and His character. He’s “Faithful and True” and He’s “The Word of God.” He’s the “KING OF KINGS He’s the LORD OF LORDS.” This is the sovereign One. The Antichrist has just been a pathetic imitation, impressing the world, but puny with power in the presence of the One who is King of kings and Lord of lords. All of what Old Testament prophecy anticipated when it prophesized that He would rule and reign, in a kingdom that will have no end. A kingdom on this earth.

“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 yourselves for the great feast the great supper of God.’” What a picture! You know people think, oh God wouldn’t be violent. When you talk about the great wrath of God being poured out on the earth--this will be something like the world has never seen. We won’t go back now, but in chapter 16, we saw “blood running to the horses bridles.” We talk about there was a blood bath and this will be a literal blood bath.

We’ve already seen billions of people die on the earth under the wrath of God. When you get to Armageddon the armies of the world, the last world empire of the devil, coming under the judgment of God as Christ comes to set up His world empire. The birds of the air are invited to the feast “that you may eat the flesh of kings the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men the flesh of horses, those who sit on them, the flesh of men, both free men slaves, small and great.” There’s no distinction here. It doesn’t matter your position. It doesn’t matter your influence, your money, your status, small, great, king, slave, it doesn’t matter. The King of kings and Lord of lords He had no opponent that could stand. Who can fight against God?

“I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies assembled to make war against Him, who sat on the horse and against His army” so what you have here, is a summary statement of what has taken place down through verse 18. You have just had described this battle. What it is, is “the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.” What has happened is “the armies of the world under the Antichrist have been assembled together at Armageddon in the Valley of Migiddo.” That is a physical location. We’ll look at it in a later study as we pull some of these pieces together and that will be the center of the conflict that will spread through the length and breadth of the area of Israel. The armies have come there. They’ve been assembled by the devil, they’ve been assembled by the plan of God and as Christ descends from heaven with His armies, the armies under the antichrist turn to do battle against Him.

With Christ’s coming so spectacular, who would do battle against Him? Well, don’t forget the devil was created to serve in the presence of God. He lost that position. We see in the Book of Job that the devil gets to go back to the presence of God, on occasion, where God calls even the fallen angels to account before Him. It doesn’t change the fact that he keeps battling. You know the devil, demons present here today, spirit beings we can’t see, they know Revelation 19. They’ve read the climax.

You know there’s something about sin that so corrupts your thinking, you still think it will work out all right. Why has not everyone that you’ve shared the gospel, why have they not believed in Christ? It makes no sense. You can’t win. You are already under judgment. Condemnation is sure. It’s just the sentencing that awaits; we’ll get to that at the end of chapter 20. Why will you perish? Somehow, it makes sense to people. No, I don’t want to hear it. No, no I’m not interested. I have my beliefs you have yours. I have my church you have yours. That’s not related to anything.

There’s only one way to heaven. There’s only one-way to be forgiven. “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish. He that has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on Him.” Not so complicated. It’s not. Well, boy, that’s so complicated you really have to work through that and--no, you’re a sinner, you know that. You know that you are not perfect and holy before God. Yeah, but I don’t think I’m bad enough to deserve to go to hell, but you’re not the judge. You’re not the jury. There’s one Judge and jury, that is God, and He has it, you failed to meet His standard. “You shall be holy for I am holy.” You’re not holy. “The wages of sin is death,” so here’s where we are.

“The beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.” For whatever reason they think they came together, in God’s plan it’s for the final conflict of the ages, if you will. The destruction of God’s enemies so that’s what we had down through verse 18 here and now you have the summary in case you wonder what is going on here with all this destruction and the birds coming to feast. Well because the beast had assembled all, because remember he’s world ruler so all the kings under his authority have been brought here with their armies and that’s the outcome. They’re destroyed.

Verse 20 just highlight this because we’ll be talking about hell when we get to the end of chapter 20. That’s where the final sentencing takes place for everyone except the beast and the false prophet here. The beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, so they don’t die in the conflict. They’re captured, if you will, and it’s the false prophet—remember we’ve talked about the satanic trinity in chapters 12 and 13. The devil wants to replace God the Father, have the Antichrist replace God the Son, and have the false prophet replace the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit directs worship to Christ, the false prophet directed worship to the Antichrist and just like all this is a true worship of the devil, so the worship of Christ is the worship of the Father, so the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. We talked about that.

The Lord will send a strong delusion, 2 Thessalonians 2, that they should believe a lie, and only the grace of God for those that come to salvation will they not receive mark, and worship the image.

These two, the political leader and the religious leader, these two were “thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone.” That’s hell. Now interesting, these are the first two that we are told, are cast into the eternal hell. The devil is not in hell. In fact, the devil won’t be cast into hell for another 1,000 years. Turn over to chapter 20 verse 10 and this is verse 7 when the thousand years are completed. Verse 10 “the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also.” They are there. They haven’t been burned up. It doesn’t say where they were because they’ve been consumed. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

You know people try to deal with hell out of their emotions. One man, I appreciate his honesty although I don’t appreciate the way he handled Scripture on it. He has written some good commentaries and given every indication of truly being a believer but he said he gave up his belief in an eternal hell because it was just too terrible for him to conceive that God would do that. Well, you know emotionally, yeah, we may not be able to conceive that. I Can’t you know emotionally grasp my arms around a lot of things. I Believe it because God said it. Oh, you think He would really send people to an eternal hell and they’d be tormented—think about it. You know tormented, tormented, tormented, tormented, in a hundred trillion years won’t God relent. Wouldn’t you relent? Well I can say this is what He says, He’s true, and He tells the truth. Now the fact that I might not be able with my finite mind grasp the seriousness of all this—part of the problem is we just don’t see sin as that serious and we don’t see God as that holy and righteous, so it’ll just all just sort of get worked out in the end.

Serious business, they were thrown into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone or as you have in your margin burning sulphur. You know what sulphur smells like? You know that terrible stench it’s a nauseating stench. People think, well if I’m going to hell all my friends will be there. Well, all your friends may be there but there won’t be any socializing in hell. It’s called outer darkness. Everybody absorbed with their own pain and suffering, and this place of the awful unrelenting stench, from which there is no relief. That’s where the beast and the false prophet are. They’re sentenced before the kingdom. When we get to chapter 20 we’re going to get totally, new information about a 1,000-year phase at the beginning of the kingdom, after which, the devil will be cast out. Then we’re told in verse 21, “the rest were killed with the sword, which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

Let me just say something. They’re killed here; it doesn’t say the rest of the unbelievers were also cast into hell. They’re killed. The reason is we have some judgments that take place here that have been revealed like in Matthew 25, so we have to read them and then we’ll see why it’s not said they were cast into hell. The only two cast into hell here were the beast and the false prophet but all the enemies of the Lord will be dead, physically dead before we establish the kingdom. Now where will their souls go? They’ll go to Hades. Hades is not hell. We’ll talk about some of that distinction when we talk about the judgments of Scripture. Hades is a place of suffering, but it’s a temporary holding place of suffering, until the final sentencing to hell takes place. The beast and the false prophet have had their final sentencing. In chapter 20 verse 10, the devil will get his final sentencing. It’s not until the end of chapter 20 that the rest of humanity comes to be judged, so that’s an overview of where we’re going.

There are details to be filled in, things to be covered, and the kingdom will be established as you begin chapter 20 with the binding of Satan, and new information given about the kingdom. The only place in all the bible that now we have explained that there is a first phase of the kingdom that will last 1,000 years for the accomplishing of certain purposes we’ll talk about, then we’ll move into the eternal phase of the kingdom, so again, God very specific, very clear in unfolding.

Could God be any more gracious? You know Peter explained why God hasn’t brought His judgment on this earth. It seems there’s no end to the depths of depravity and openness of rebellion, and Peter says it is because God is patient. “He’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth” so He gives you another day to believe. Isn’t God gracious! Why doesn’t He just bring it to an end, enough of this? He’s laid out His plan, He patiently works that plan and in His grace He gives another day of salvation.

People go to hell. It’s not because God made them go to hell, it’s because they chose. They’re sinners, they are in rebellion against God, they’ve rejected the revelation He’s given in creation and in His word, and you know what the final analysis of us all will be, every single one of us. Not because we’re better. We are saved by grace and their judgment under the wrath of God, they are worthy, they deserve it. You deserve it, I deserve it. If you’re going to try to be saved by what you deserve, what you earn, you’re lost. Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sin. God said if you believe in Christ, place your faith in Him alone for your salvation, I’ll forgive you, cleanse you from your sin, from the penalty of your sin, cause you to be born into My family, and you’ll belong to me forever. As we would say, it’s a no brainer but sin is a no brainer. I hope you’ve trusted Christ.

Let’s pray: Thank You Lord for the clarity of the revelation You’ve given. We know how it all will end. Where this world of confusion disorder, rebellion and sin, where it’s moving. You have made that clear. It’s moving toward judgment destruction, and an eternal hell. Lord what a stark contrast is the manifestation of the grace provided for us in Christ that You would have Your Son come and die to pay the penalty, for the sin of us so undeserving unworthy, deserving of hell. Worthy to be punished forever but in grace you provided a Savior and You give Him as a free gift to all who believe. Lord may those who do not know You take this to heart. May we who do know the Savior be more bold in sharing the wonder of this truth to others? We pray the Spirit will use it to accomplish the salvation that only You can do. Bless this day we pray in Christ’s name. Amen