Revelation 19

We rejoice in relief from the King.

We rejoice in relationship with the King.

We rejoice in the return of the King.

Well, good morning, everyone! There is a hint of Spring in the air… And I like it!

Hey, thanks for being here this morning, and thank you for inviting all of us, music team included as well as myself, into the living room of your lives. Do you mind if I sit down for our chat? That’d be all right?

Did you know that the human heart, your heart beats 100,000 times every day. —And you wonder why you feel so tired! Your heart will beat between 40 and 50 million times every year. And if you live to an average lifespan, your heart will have beaten nearly three billion times before you exit into eternity. It’s amazing! As Celine Dion would sing, “my heart will go on!” — until it doesn’t, because our times are in His hands.

I say it honestly and yet a little bit figuratively, my heart beats a little bit faster, and perhaps even skips a beat here and there whenever I seriously contemplate the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to planet earth… Hallelujah!

We live in such a world of hopelessness… despair, so where should we look? — well, we ought to. as scripture says, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13) This is the hope of Christians, and today we’re going to consider the return of the King.

So if you have your bible please join me, Revelation chapter 19, as we consider the theme, The Return of the King. If you don’t have a bible, we’ll have the verses on the screen for you, but quite obviously, we’re about to land the plane of prophecy. We’re getting close to the end of the last book of the Bible, and here in chapter 19, as you can count it up, we’re just four chapters away from the end. So to grab a familiar analogy, we’re in the final four.

We’re anticipating next month March Madness and all the craziness excitement that goes with it, watching those single competition games, single elimination games, and then we finally reached the final four, and after that last weekend, we’re down to the final two, and then one team is crowned champion of the NCAA world — And they bask in the wonder of that one shining moment! But friends, that will pale in comparison to the glory that will be revealed when Jesus Christ comes back for His reign on this earth and then into the eternal ages! And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today.

Now as I look at this chapter, I see that there’s something of a sandwich effect on either end. There is God overcoming evil utilizing an imagery of battle, and in between is a much softer imagery of a relationship. As we look at this we understand that there’s a key word here. We just sang about. It’s the word “Hallelujah.” What does “Hallelujah” mean? You know what it means. The Hebrew word for praise, hallel, is the first word, and then the compound word “Yah” an abbreviation for “Yahweh,” the great self-existent One, the “I AM.” So we sang… we sing “Hallelujah!” And it occurs only four times in the New Testament, all four times right here in Revelation chapter 19. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! If we don’t praise Him, the very rocks will cry out!

And as I look at the theme here, though it’s inclusive of some heavy information, there’s an overall theme of rejoicing. And so I want to unpack here at the very outset my outline for this chapter. You can jot this down in your notes if you want. We rejoice in relief from the King. We rejoice in relationship with the King. And then finally, we rejoice in the return of the King.

We’ll start with relief in verses 1 through 5. And as you take a glance there at the very first verse, you’ll see a reference to a multitude. I take this to mean in large part the Tribulation saints who have been martyred for their faith by the Antichrist as well as likely by that great entity pastor talked about last week, Babylon the great, mystery Babylon, this great conglomeration of religion and politics and commercialism. It’s all coming down. It will be destroyed! And in this chapter, they are rejoicing because in chapter 6 and verse 10 of Revelation, these saints had cried out from their heavenly abode.

[Revelation 6:10]

‘How long, O Lord, sovereign and true, before you avenge, before you judge our blood on the earth?’

— And you’ll see that language employed here in the second verse. And by the way, notice it’s in the past tense. We call this the prophetic past tense because even though it’s future, it’s spoken of in the past tense because in God’s mind, it’s as good as done. It’s going to happen! Verse 1.

Revelation 19:1-5

1 “After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, (Here it is) “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

2 for His judgments are true and just; (And here’s chapter 6 verse 10) for He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of His servants.”

3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

4 And the twenty-four elders (I believe to be a reference to the church will be up there at this time in heaven. The 24 elders and the four living creatures, the chariot men mentioned in chapter four) and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. (In other words, we agree. Let it be so!) Hallelujah!”

5 And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear Him, small and great.” (They’re praising God because He’s answered their prayer and bringing vindication for their deaths.)

Let me make application to my audience here today. I know that I know, doing what I do here at the church that many of you have been hurt by another person or probably several different persons, and even as I say that, their face may appear on the screen of your mind. And there’s a part of you that would like God to get ’em! —In fact, you’d like to get ’em! You’d like to get a pound of flesh. You’d like some retribution. You’d like to see them pay! I wrote down in my margin here some words that might relate to you. You’ve been abused, defrauded, violated, offended, hurt, and you’re wondering, what about them? I’ve been hurt. My advice to you inwardly, forgive them. Now, you can’t be restored to them unless they ask forgiveness from you if they’re still alive, but forgive them, and hear from a pastor’s heart to you if you’re struggling with someone who’s hurt you badly. Don’t try to gain revenge yourself! It’ll only mess with your own heart. No… give it up! Let it go! Give it to God to deal with in His time. This is what Romans chapter 12 says. ‘Do not avenge yourselves, but leave room for God’s wrath. for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.’

[Romans 12:19

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”]

He’ll take care of it… in His time.

Now here’s some general categories, some sources of hurt from which you may have been offended. You can see them. We’re talking about perhaps your parents. Perhaps we’re talking about your past. Maybe we’re talking about the people in your life, like your extended family. It might even be your spouse or your former spouse. And then it might be your pain.

Let me explain why I’m sitting today to preach. I’m so indebted to Pastor Pat. He’s been such a kind man to me. Six months ago I came to him and said, Pastor Pat, my neuropathic pain has intensified to the point, the attendant issues that come with it… loss of sleep… that I don’t believe I can any longer preach a three spot on Sunday mornings because of the pain that follows. So I said, “As much as I hate to do this, would you remove me from the preaching rotation?” Regretfully, he said, “I will, my friend,” very kindly. About a month ago, I had a ‘come to Jesus’ moment. I was pursuing God hard, asking Him for a renewal of strength, and energy and passion. I was asking Him for a new boldness in proclaiming Jesus Christ and witnessing, and God granted that in so many words reminding me of what He told the apostle Paul who also asked for removal of his thorn. And what did Jesus say to him?

[2 Corinthians 12:9b] “My grace is sufficient for you, and my strength is made perfect in your weakness.”

And He said in effect to me,’Curt, lean into your weakness and I’ll give you strength.’ And I felt a passion to get back into preaching and I came back to pastor Pat and I said, “My friend, would you mind if I had another couple of reps before I finish here at the church?” and he said, “Sure, Curt, we’ll do it!” Thank you, Pastor! Appreciate your kindness.

You know, I want to finish well. I’m reaching the finish line of my ministry here. I’ll totally retire in September. I’ve been working about half time for the last year and a half. But I I want to finish well in my life. I hope you do too. Very soon I will reach age 72. And it’s not lost on me a lot of people in my age are making their exit to the life to come… ‘Curt, what if…? Are you ready?’ Of course, I know Christ as my Savior. I placed my faith in Him, but you know, I want to hear ‘Well done!’ I want to go full-bore to the end. I want to say with Paul,

(2 Timothy 4:7-8)

7 “I have fought a good fight. I’ve finished the race. I’ve kept the faith.

8 Henceforth, there’s laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me and not to me only, but to all who love his appearing, his return.”

Crown of rejoicing… —That’s what I want.

Whatever it is that’s brought hurt into your life, would you lean into God’s grace and allow Him in His time to take care of that issue? It’ll be solved when Christ returns.

To the second reason we rejoice… We rejoice in relationship with the King. This is verses 6 to 9.

Revelation 19:6-9

6 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, (much larger than the first) like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, (picture Niagara Falls in a thunderstorm. They were…) crying out, (Here it is again) “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

(King James says, “The omnipotent one, Lord God omnipotent reigns. Remember Handel’s Messiah? — “… for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”)

7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, (And here’s the image) for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;

8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” (and then that linen is described in the next phrase) — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

(We are not saved by our good works, but let me tell you, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, it will be demonstrated by your good works, and you will wear them in heaven, described by “white linen.”)

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

The analogy here, of course, is that of marriage. Jesus is our Bridegroom and the Church is His bride. Can I explain to you the three phases of the first century Jewish wedding? First phase is what we call the contract or the covenant. The young man would go to the daddy of the girl and say, ‘Hey, I’d like your daughter in marriage. Can you bargain with me?’ They had to pay a price. It’s called a dowry. And they would negotiate that price and some of you who are fathers of the bride-to-be are saying, ‘Can we return to that custom?’ Weddings are getting increasingly more expensive. I’d like some dough for this girl. And they’d negotiate, and then they were actually legally considered to be married. Remember the words used of Joseph and Mary “espoused,” “betrothed”? That was the Jewish world. They didn’t have a sexual union, but they were considered husband and wife, and he would go back to his father’s home, a compound, and there he would prepare a home for her. Now, that first stage, the contract is pictured by what Jesus did for us.

[1 Peter 1:18-19]

‘We are redeemed not with corruptible things, perishable things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.’

And now in this particular instance, when he goes back to prepare a home, it pictures what I believe to be the Rapture of the church; John chapter 14:

[John 14:2-3]

2 “In my Father’s house are many rooms (mansions). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

And Jesus is preparing a home for you and me right now. And I believe He’s going to come for His people before he comes back with his people.

So after about a year preparing the home, the young man would go back, probably unannounced to the girl, about a year afterward, maybe a torchlight parade, maybe under cover of darkness, maybe an entourage, and they’d make their way back and with a mighty shout he’d announced that he was there! It’s pictured in the parable of the 10 Virgins in Matthew chapter 25. And he would grab his girl and take her home and they would sexually consummate their marriage. And then they’d go back to his bride’s home and they’d celebrate what we’d call a reception. For maybe several days, maybe a week… remember John chapter 2? — Jesus at the marriage of Cana in Galilee where He turned the water into wine? That was a marriage reception. Now we’re going to have a reception here on this earth, and apparently, if I’m reading this right, our reception celebration is going to last for a thousand years! Wow! That’s amazing!

I want to make an application to those of us who are married in this room, and I’m well aware that many of you are not married. I tried to follow this guideline with my own wife. Many decades ago, I met my wife here on campus at the local Bible College. And I had heard tell of her in advance because it was made known somehow that she won a statewide beauty pageant and so, Wow! I mean, when the Lord saved me, He didn’t blind me! — And she’s attractive. She still is! And she’s extremely good looking! — But I was a junior she was a freshman, and I was interested in getting married and getting after it! And so… I was interested. Is she as fervent in spirit for the Lord as she is good looking? And the answer was ‘yes!’ I said, “Yeah!” My roommate beat me to the punch in getting a date, but after I started dating her, I hung on for dear life! So I went to her daddy, a professor up at Iowa State, and I said, “Dr. Rowley, Dad Rowley, would you allow me to marry your daughter, Karen?” And we were married up in Ames and consummated our relationship right here in the Des Moines area, and then flew to Oregon for our honeymoon and it was and has been wonderful! And here we are, this June the 14th, Karen and I will be married 50 years! Thank you. I love my wife very much.

Now, when you’ve been married this long, you’ve got to work at it. We like to use little signs to hide from each other. Maybe you’ve used these. Here’s the first one. “I love you more.” I’ll hide it, and she’ll find it, and then she’ll hide it, and I’ll find it. It’s kind of a fun thing. Gives me a tingle every time I find it! And then just for good measure, we’ll use another one. “I love you way more.” [LAUGHTER]

Earlier this month, my wife and I were sitting on the couch watching a television program. And when we finished, she grabbed her ring finger, and she said, “Honey, my diamond… It’s gone!” We looked frantically to find it without success. Still have not found it. We plopped back down on the couch and she began to cry and she said, “Honey, would you hold me? I’m so sorry that I lost our diamond!” And I said, “Honey, it’s not your fault. Please don’t feel bad. We can buy another diamond, But it’s you I want. I love you! So sometimes the diamond loses its luster in marriage, and sometimes you lose the diamond. But the love of Christ prompts us to love our mate by a choice, by an act of the will, even when it’s hard, to honor Him, even as Christ loves us and laid His life down for us.

Now, I realize that a number of you are not married. You’ve maybe wanted to get married and it hasn’t happened. Maybe you’re young, maybe you’re middle-aged or older. Some of you have lost your mate by death. Some of you have been divorced, so my heart goes out to you. I love all of you, and I care about your pain. — But I want you to know you’re not left out if you’re not married, because you have a heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s going to celebrate with you forever! And Jesus said in Matthew 22, there’s no marriage in heaven. We’ll know and love our mates, but He’ll be our Bridegroom. And we’ll celebrate Him, and He’ll love on you forever! So drink that in and may it bring solace to your soul.

We move to our last cause of rejoicing. We rejoice in the return of the King. That’s the last half of this chapter. And before I jump into these verses which admittedly are pretty heavy, I need to say something about the Lord, Jesus Christ, that I think cultural Christianity has forgotten, not only about Him but about God. He came the first time, Jesus did, as a gentle little Lamb, meek and lowly, humble. When He comes back the second time, and He will! — this is no Marvel movie fantasy. The living Christ is going to come back and you and I will see Him and be with Him. When He comes back, He’s coming back as a Lion! He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah! — And He’ll come back ferociously! Oh yeah, He loves His own, those who’ve trusted Him, but to those who’ve rebelled, who’ve pushed back, who’ve said ‘No’ to the Gospel, they will be destroyed! They will suffer eternal damnation. Some people say, ‘I don’t get that picture. I thought God was a God of love.’ We invent our own ideas of God. The God of the Bible is love, but He is also a God of righteousness and holiness and justice. He cannot overlook sin! It must be judged! And either you will allow Jesus to take that judgment for you on the cross, or that judgment will be laid on YOU forever! — because God is a purer eye than to look on evil. His righteousness must be honored. Romans chapter 3. And it is honored in the death of Christ when He poured out all of His wrath for all of our sin in His own Son on the tree. But He demonstrated His love for us that we might be saved.[Romans 5:8] And there’s a tension involved there between His love, and His holiness, His righteousness and His justice. There’s a tension there. You can capture that in passages like John chapter 3, you know, verse 16. It’s so well-known. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His uniquely-born Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ But don’t forget the last verse of that chapter. ‘He that has the Son has eternal life, but He that does not have the Son does not possess life and the wrath of God abides on Him.’

[John 3:36

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.“}

That wrath can be removed from you, my friend, this day if you’ll place your faith in Jesus Christ. Will you do that? Have you been born again? Are you sure of heaven? Make sure today.

You know, our preaching and our music must reflect this tension within the Godhead, of both His love and His judgment. We need to sing about it, sing songs of lament, and preach about it. Pastor’s up. Jason’s up. Pastor’s back up the next three weeks landing the plane of prophecy, and there’s a lot of hope coming up. But Great White Throne judgment in store for next Sunday morning. This is hair raising stuff! Let’s not lose the tension of Scripture. You can find it in the classical music world when they write a song. It starts with anticipation joyously, but then somewhere along the line, the composer introduces tension. It may be harmonic dissonance. It may be some sort of minor key, some clashing like, “Eeah!” It grates on me! But it always ends with a resolution; maybe with a crescendo, maybe a fortissimo… a great triumphant ending. Maybe it’s quiet. Maybe it’s calming. (He sighs) The tension is resolved. And really, that’s the narrative of the Gospel, the narrative of the Bible. It starts with great anticipation with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. But then by chapter three, they have chosen to rebel and sin against God. And all the results of that fall are abundant… apparent to who all of us. The whole earth is groaning, waiting for their redemption. We’re groaning right now! But that resolution, it comes starting there in Genesis 3:15 all the way through with the coming of Jesus through the death, the sacrifice, the resurrection of Jesus. But the ultimate resolution is found right here in chapter 19 when the promised One comes back to earth and saves those who know and love Him and destroys those who do not!

This is not going to be on a slide, but I’m going to read this for you.

From 2 Thessalonians 1[7-10], the New Living Translation:

“Jesus will come back with his mighty angels and flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God, on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord, and from His glorious power when He comes to receive glory and praise from His holy people.”

So the Battle of Armageddon… Here we go! Verse 15:

Revelation 19:15-21

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.

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, (Lots of imagery here, lots of figurative language. He was standing in the sun) and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, (Again, a word picture) “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 (Colton preached about this out of chapter 13, this beast, this Antichrist) … [gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.]

20 And the beast (this is Antichrist. He) 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.”

Sobering! So what do you say to that, Curt? Speaking of Christ, [Philippians 2:9-11] ‘Therefore, God has given him a name which is above every name. But at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow above the earth, underneath the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

Do you ever wonder what it’s going to be like when we first see Jesus? Can you envision that? Now, I’m backing up a little bit to when He comes for His Church. I grew up on a farm in Northwest Iowa. Loved Dad and Mom dearly. Dad’s been gone 18 years. Mom, 11 years this month. Both knew and loved the Lord Jesus. I’ll see them up in the glory land. I was privileged to preach the funerals for both of them because I wanted my lost loved ones to hear the Gospel. All of my ministry life, I have lived in large part far away from Dad and Mom together with my wife and our four kids. My mom missed us terribly. We missed her and Dad as well. About once a year, we’d drive back to the farm in summertime, and I can still envision in my mind’s eye driving down that gravel driveway. Mom, Dad, perhaps looking out the picture window of the farmhouse, seeing us arrive. And mom would run out of the house with a big smile, with tears streaming down her cheeks, hugging us and kissing us and saying, “Welcome home!” I gotta believe that’s what it’s gonna be like when we get to heaven and see Jesus, the One we so longed and have ached to see!

Beloved, now we are the children of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He appears, we’ll be like Him for we will see Him as He is. Every man that has this hope then purifies himself, even as He is pure.

But then we move on to this particular text. First we go, of course, to be with Him and then we come back with Him in His royal cavalcade. Jesus is pictured on a great white steed, the conquering hero, the Commander in Chief. And can’t you just hear it right now? — that booming voice, the Lion of the tribe of Judah shouting out to all of us, “Let’s ride!” Verse 11.

[Revelation 19:11-14,16]

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, (you and me, are) arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

(verse 16) On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Is He the King of your life? Have you bowed the knee, repented of your sins, and trusted that He gave His life on the cross for you and rose again? — He’s your only hope? —You cannot rely upon your own self-efforts, but He alone by grace will save you? Have you ever done that? Are you ready when He returns? Will you be saved or will you be judged? Sobering words! — And if you trust in Jesus Christ, you’ll be able to say with all of us, ‘There He is, King of kings and Lord of lords!’

Father, help us to make sure that we know You. We’ve trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord. I pray for those who don’t right now have that assurance that You would save them. And Lord, I pray for believers here, who though they know they’re going to heaven are not quite so sure they’ll hear those words “well done,” because they’re really living under their own agenda. Jesus is not really Lord of their lives. I pray You’d bring them to repentance, to a change, to a ‘come to Jesus’ moment. And Lord, as we sing these glorious songs right now, oh, transport us in our mind’s eye, to enjoy what it will be like when we see Jesus. We pray in His name. Amen. Would you stand for our singing? [Music]