Revelation 19:10-21
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Dear Friends, please note that I am adding the following
two paragraphs to the last article of Rev. 19:1-9. I just put them here for
your convenience. Thank you. Everything I do is in flux, and always open for
improvement and correction 😃 . The new article starts below with verse 10
“Write this!” (9).
This command is common in the book of Revelation, as the canon of Scripture comes
to an end. The first human writer, who recorded the words of God, was Moses and
God on various occasions, commanded him to write. Israel’s history and
literature was written for future generations. God commanded the prophets to
write. Luke told Theophilus concerning the Gospels, “Just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers
of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having
followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for
you” (Lk.1:2,3). Even Pontius Pilate wrote on the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews”
in the three most important languages of the day. Paul told the Colossians, “When this letter has been read among you,
have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and also read the letter
from Laodicea” (Col.4:16). So the Gospels and the epistles prospered in the
early church and hundreds of copies were written to pass along.
That, which is written, is preserved beyond the spoken
word and is validated over the spoken word. The Holy Spirit is the Author of
all Scripture and He has shown His concern for future generations, seeing to it
that His Word has been preserved through writing. It alone holds absolute
authority over everything that concerns the people of God. Jesus spoke the
written word, in replying to the temptations of the devil. In history, the
devil always mounted persecution against the translators of the word, as well
as those who have had the word in their possession. To this day, he is
attacking those who possess, read and practice the written word. Beware of
those, who deny or belittle the whole, or any part, of the written Word. Liberals,
who still like to call themselves Christians, question the veracity and
authenticity of the Bible. Society largely considers it an antiquated book. Let
us give it its rightful place in our hearts, minds and lives and give thanks
continually to God, because today we have the full revelation of God’s word. He
has faithfully preserved it to this present generation. “These are the true words of God.”
Revelation
19:10-21
10. Then I fell
down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am
a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. He is clothed
in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of
God.
14. And the armies
of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white
horses.
15. 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.
16. On his robe
and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Crown Him with many crowns
The ark of the Old Testament, in its day, was a testimony to the whole world of the presence
of God with His people, typified
by the Shekinah glory. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that,
which the tabernacle typified: “The Word became flesh and
tabernacled among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from
the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn.1:14,
literal Greek). In the four
Gospels, He is revealed in glory among His people for the world to see.
The testimony of Jesus seems to me to be wrapped up in one verse, John 1:18: “No one has ever seen God; the only God,
who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” The apostle Paul, in
his powerful, Christ-exalting letter to the Colossians taught his doctrine, “In him the whole fullness of deity dwells
bodily and you have been filled in him” (Col.2:9,10). The apostle John states
the same: “From his fullness we have all
received, grace upon grace (Jn.1:18).
This is the testimony of Jesus,
testifying of the godhead in bodily form, and this is the essence, the heart,
the fulfillment and the spirit of all prophecy. The Old Testament, the Gospels,
the epistles and the many prophecies in Revelation have all pointed to one
central theme: Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. This
blessed revelation is recorded in a holy book, available for all the world to
see, that He might receive glory for all eternity by those who believe.
“Worship God!” the angel commanded (10). It is a great thing to
be caught up in the magnitude of the revelation, but therein also is a danger. There
is a temptation to give undue honor to the messenger, whether angelic or human.
The angel will not allow it for one moment; he is flawlessly committed to the
glory of God. Human beings may not be as quick to discourage such devotion, but
we do have some worthy examples to follow. Peter addressed the people,
concerning the healing of a lame man: “Why
do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?”
(Ac.3:12). At Lystra another lame
man was healed through the ministry of Paul and the natives thought that Roman
gods had come down to them. Paul and Barnabas reacted, “When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their
garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, ‘Men, why are you doing
these things? We also are men…” (Ac.14:14,15). A true testimony of Jesus
teaches mankind to worship God alone.
A door has previously been opened
(4:1), the temple was opened (11:19), the tabernacle of the testimony was
opened (15:5) but at the words of the angel, all heaven opens and John shows to
us the most powerful revelation of Christ yet. He sees Him mounted upon a white
horse with the titles, Faithful and True (11). Even Pontius Pilate caught an
inkling of godly fear, when He stood before him to be judged: “For this purpose I was born and for this
purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who
is of the truth listens to my voice” (Jn.18:37). Pilate will one day be resurrected to stand before Him in judgment
at the Great White Throne. Far from the mob rule that influenced the Roman
governor, he will be judged in perfect righteousness. At this point, Jesus is
appearing as the Lord of Hosts, the Commander of the Lord’s army (Jos.5:14).
He was revealed to John in the first
chapter with eyes as flames of fire and now, He is crowned with many crowns,
because He is coming to rule. There are many proofs of His divinity in this
book and we have one in verse 12. He has a name that only He knows. There is no
being in all eternity, who can perfectly uncover all the mysteries of His
person and He is only perfectly known by His own self-knowledge (12).
His clothing is dipped in blood (13).
He who shed His blood in submission, now returns to earth to spill the blood of
His enemies. Because He shed his blood, the armies coming out of heaven are forever
“clothed in fine linen, white and clean”
(14). He is their substitute and they follow him, mounted and enabled by
heavenly steeds. The white horses are the heavenly versions of the equine
species, with characteristics beyond those, of which the Lord described to Job:
“His majestic snorting is terrifying. He
paws in the valley and exults in his strength. He goes out to meet the weapons.
He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword…
With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the
sound of the trumpet… He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the
captains, and the shouting” (Job 39:20-25).
John had come to know His third
title, by the time he wrote his gospel. He is The Word of God, the Angel, the
Messenger of His presence, who appeared often in the Old Testament. He was made
flesh, so that “in these last days (God)
has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb.1:2). The Word of God is a sharp sword,
coming from His mouth, and it will wield terrifying destruction in the upcoming
battle. John describes the victory in verse 15; it will strike down the nations
and a bloodbath will occur, as “He will
tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (see
Is.63:2,3) Then, Christ will rule with a rod of iron.
This portion alone, from verse 11-16,
is worthy of a complete volume, and we are limited to just a few comments, as
we move quickly through the book. Hopefully, a few divine sparks will burst
into flames in our hearts. On His robe and on His thigh (John Wesley: “That is, on the part of his vesture which
is upon his thigh) are fourth and fifth titles… royal titles of supreme
authority: “King of kings and Lord of
lords.” No one diadem is enough for the King of kings; there are many
diadems on His head. Babylon has fallen and now the beast and the false prophet
will fall, and with them, the entire image seen by Nebuchadnezzar, and even
before his time, two earlier kings will topple. The beast and his kingdom are
the final manifestation of man’s rule upon the earth. Christ removes their
crowns and claims them as His own.
You see, friends, there is no
entrance into His kingdom without a confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. He
must be completely Lord of every one, who He redeems… He is Lord of lords (16,
see Ro.10:10). After this battle, because “God
has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name”, therefore,
“every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father” (Php.2:9-11).
17. 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,
18. 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.”
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
The call to Armageddon
 |
| Site of Armageddon |
An angel is standing in the sun,
impossible to be ignored as he summons with a loud voice all the carnivorous
birds to a supper prepared for them by the Lord. We saw a prelude to this event
in chapter 16:12-16, when the sixth bowl of wrath was poured out. It dried up
the Euphrates to make way for the kings of the east to join those of the west
in the land of Israel. Demon spirits are at work to prepare a worldwide army to
assemble there.
You will need to read Zechariah,
chapter 12, and 14:1-5, along with this portion, to get a better understanding
of what occurs in this battle. The battle will extend from the Valley of
Megiddo, 60 miles northeast of Jerusalem, and will end around the city itself.
Blood will flow like a river (Ap.14:20). There will be worldwide opposition to
Jerusalem and “I will make Jerusalem a heavy
stone for all the peoples… And all the nations of the earth will gather against
it” (Zech.12:3).
Joel also prophesied of this battle,
calling the site, where the battle begins, “the valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel
3:2). Jehoshaphat means the judgment of
Jehovah, because that king of Judah won a great battle there, against a
coalition of nations (2 Cr.20:26). This will be a far more important battle and
all the nations of the world will be present (Zech 14:1-3). Christ Himself will
descend from heaven to destroy the armies led by the beast (19-21). Jesus spoke
of His Second Coming in Luke 17:22-37. It is the same as we see here in
Revelation. He said that it would be like the days of Noah and of Lot, when
some were taken and others left. They asked Him, where they would be taken and
He answered, “Where the corpse is, there
the vultures will gather” (Lk.22:37). They will be taken to Armageddon for
destruction, while those who are left will remain on earth into the Millennium.
Jesus will return to rescue the
Jews, who are on the verge of annihilation, at the hands of the antichrist’s
army. Two-thirds will be killed and one third, greatly tried and refined, will
be saved. Now, read this tremendous prophecy: “I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him…”
(Zech.12:10). The Holy Spirit will be poured out upon the remnant of Israel
with grace and will produce repentance and pleas for mercy, as they call out to
Jesus. Only the Spirit can testify of Jesus, and He will open their eyes so
that the Jews will recognize Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. However, He
will also impart faith! Repentance will take place at the foot of the cross (where
He was pierced). This will happen, as Jerusalem is falling into the hands of
the armies of the nations. Jesus will come to their rescue (Zech.14:3-5).
So that they can escape from within
the walls of Jerusalem, the Lord will place His feet on the mount of Olives, at
the same place, where He ascended into heaven (Zech.14:4; Ac.1:12; Lc.24:50) on
the east side of Jerusalem; at the place from which He entered the city,
sitting on a donkey’s colt (Lc.19:29, 37, 41); where he prayed in Gethsemane
(Lk.22:39); where he frequently retired with His disciples. The mount will
divide in two. One part will be to the north, the other to the south, and a
valley will open between them (as the Red Sea opened), from Jerusalem on the
west and through the valley to the east. A remnant of Jews, now believers, will
escape. Then Jesus will return from the east into the city, as Ezekiel saw in
his day (Ezek.43:2-5).
 |
| Mt. of Olives across the Kidron Valley |
The valley of Kidron, between
Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, will extend through the valley caused by the
rift (Zech.14:5) Zechariah reminds them of the escape from the earthquake in
the time of Uzziah (Am.1:1). It is interesting to note that these final events had
historical precedents, as can be seen in the entire book of Zechariah. The Lord
comes, as described in verse 14, with “the
armies of heaven” and in Zechariah “with
all his saints”, to bring the antichrist and the false prophet to defeat,
take the temple of Jerusalem, and He will sit upon the throne.
The antichrist and the false prophet will be captured and
will become the first human beings thrown into the Lake of Fire. (We will learn
later that the Lake of Fire is not the same as Hell.) All the soldiers in the
antichrist army will be destroyed and scavenger birds, who have been drawn by
the angel, will feed on their flesh. As we learned above, “Where the
corpse is, there the vultures will gather” (Lk.22:37).
Before we draw this chapter to a close, I want to bring
to our attention, a frightening, yet very important, teaching of the apostle
Paul about last-day deception. Please turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 2,
particularly verses 1-3, then 8-12. He speaks of a “gathering together to him” (v.1). This can be nothing else, but the rapture, of which Paul wrote in
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. He writes now that “that day will not come, unless … the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (v.3). He does not point to the coming of
the antichrist, but of his revelation, which takes place at the Abomination of
Desolation (Dn.9:27).
In verse 8, Paul writes about the battle, which we are
studying in Revelation 19, in which the lawless one will be killed. Notice how
he will destroy him… “with the breath of
his mouth” or as we learn in Revelation, “from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the
nations” (15). The lawless one will be a miracle worker by the power of
Satan, with false signs and wonders. Who will he deceive?: “Because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God
sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order
that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness” (v.10-12).
Salvation is given upon certain conditions; there can be
no doubt about that. If there were no conditions, then the whole world would be
saved. One of the conditions clearly taught in Scripture is humility… the
sinner must be humbled, in order to surrender to the lordship of Christ and brought
to the end of his independence. He must repent, turn from his own way, which is
sinful, and believe, that is, he must trust Christ. He must 1) trust in His
person, meaning that He must believe in Christ as God in the flesh, and he must
2) trust His work, as totally sufficient to save him, with no works on his
part. Also, according to Paul in this passage, he must love the truth to be
saved (v.10). If he refuses to believe the truth, God Himself will send him
delusion so that he will be condemned!
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